Wednesday,
July 11th, 2001
Skin Game - Sorry State Of Porn Journalism
Lee Siegel writes for The New Republic online (TNR.com):
It used to be that at the muddy crossroads where money and morality met you also met journalistic skepticism. No longer.
The first is that the power of affluence assimilates even the most amoral currents in our society. The second is that, once these currents are absorbed, their amorality, even their social pathology, become legitimated simply by virtue of the sponsorship of money.
The tone of awed admiration in Modern Painters, of all places, is typical: "pornography is now among the biggest industries on earth: no longer the preserve of shady characters on the edges of the law. It's now produced by major companies. . . ." Don't look for irony. There isn't any.
What jars is the discrepancy between [Martin] Amis's judgment [in Talk magazine] of porn's normalization, deduced from its soaring profits, and his judgment of porn's aberrant nature, deduced from the nature of the porn industry.
After following around a porn star and porn director named Chloe--"the industry's anal queen"--Amis ends with a rescue fantasy:
"No, Chloe you are not a prostitute, not quite.... You are more like a gladiator, a contemporary gladiator. Of course, gladiators were slaves--but some of them won their freedom. And you, I think, will win yours."
From Deep Throat to Little Nell. The appeal to middle-class feeling is the perfect ending to an article that ends up normalizing, even banalizing, porn by emphasizing its revenue-producing power.
You find the same surrender of writerly apprehension to cultural fashion, the same moral miasma, two months later in The New Yorker, with a report from Nevada by Rebecca Mead titled "American Pimp: How to Make an Honest Living from the Oldest Profession." The very subtitle betrays Mead's confusion. For the subject of the article, one Dennis Hof, the owner of the Moonlite Bunnyranch, does not appear from Mead's depiction to be an especially honest man. We learn toward the end of the article that, Hof's declarations of concern for his "girls'" futures notwithstanding, he has had, during the few days that Mead was with him, sex with at least five different female employees, "including Barely Legal Mel, a skinny nineteen-year-old whom Hof fondly refers to as 'a pedophile's dream.'" How much of a choice do these women, who depend on Hof for their livelihoods, have in responding to his advances? If Mead has misgivings, she isn't sharing them: She reports Hof's couplings with his employees without a trace of skepticism.
Rather, Mead bouncily tells us that Hof likes "to mix business with pleasure." She doesn't seem to be thinking of the existence or not of the employees' pleasure. She concludes her reportage by quoting one of Hof's prostitutes: "'I love men and I love sex and I love money,' she said, and Hof smiled with satisfaction at the sight of his top girl making another sale." Pimp and prostitute are in complete harmony on the question of their occupations, and their relationship, and the satisfying congruence between sex and commercialism. Here is yet another smash-up of ethical sense. For all of Mead's intimations throughout the article of the slime beneath Hof's smoothness, she buys completely into his sliminess. The "honest" living--read profitable living--is more important than the honesty of the man. The market, after all, has smiled on Hof, and this is, in the end, an article about how the market, like the wise man of yesteryear's literature, has come through all the sordid obstacles in its path.
Mead is normalizing prostitution as just another kind of business, rather than exposing the business culture to the light of its own internal contradictions (i.e. that a laissez-faire economy produces political freedom at the same time as it replaces social bonds with deplorable dependencies). In fact, by the time she's finished, Mead seems even to have assimilated Hof's commodified perspective--"Amy... is thirty-five, though parts of her appear to be of more recent vintage."
The pièce-de-non-résistance, though, was Frank Rich's interminable cover story on the porn industry, "Naked Capitalists," which ran in the May 20th issue of The New York Times Magazine. Rich... performs the function at the paper of reducing every social and political phenomenon he encounters to a form of commercial entertainment, and then, with great urbanity, shaking his head over the fact that all Americans seem to care about is being commercially entertained.
To treat porn neutrally is to pretend that a favorable consensus toward it exists where one does not.
The term "obscenity" encompasses the question of exploitation and degradation, and the question is at least as ethically and legally valid today as it was then--but it's just not culturally hip to ask it. Not when porn's accountants present such impressive figures.
In fact, porn's profit margins put Rich into a kind of malarial fever, exciting him to Homeric catalogues of sums and figures, though he quotes the same statistics as everyone else (he even talks to some of the same people Amis did).
All this revenue, for Rich, means that the people who make the porn are just like you and me: "If the people who make and sell pornography are this 'normal'--and varied--might not the audience be, too?" What convinces Rich of their "normalcy" is that many of them went to good schools. Dartmouth, for example. Appearances matter a great deal to this journalist. And the porn people are, they assure Rich, good parents: "The Orensteins [Steve Orenstein owns a porn production company] have spoken to a therapist about the inevitable day of reckoning with their child."
Such a neutral presentation of the data is an acceptance of the data. It carries forward Rich's purpose, which is to celebrate the glorious assimilating and normalizing power of the marketplace. Rich is a little embarrassed by his moral position, and so he ends on a moralizing note, despite the fact that he began his article by protesting that he "did not go [to the porn studios] to construct a moral brief." He concludes homiletically, but with a transparently disingenuous indictment of moralists: "Moralists like to see in pornography a decline in our standards, but in truth it's an all-too-ringing affirmation of them... there may be no other product in the entire cultural marketplace that is more explicitly American."
Banish porn, then and you banish America. Unlike Amis, though, Rich wants to give the impression of using porn to indict American society--porn is an "all-too-ringing affirmation" of our declining standards. But since he has spent many thousands of words normalizing porn, it's hard to see his argument as an indictment. Rather, it is an all-too-ringing affirmation of the business culture's power to assimilate porn, and to brainwash journalists.
Diverse forms of sexuality and entertainment are not slowly being conventionalized by the marketplace, or by changing definitions of normalcy, as Amis, Mead, and Rich would have us believe. On the contrary. It's the social pathologies of selfishness and greed that are now being justified by obsequious reports of the public embrace of what was previously unacceptable.
XXX writes OJR.org: Why *doesn't* the Daily News of Los Angeles cover porn more intensely? It would seem to be a subject that crosses conservative/liberal lines (don't Republicans get aroused?); is a big business, if not as big as people claim; and is an area the San Fernando Valley-based Daily News could take on the Los Angeles Times and kick some ass. Surely the $30K-something young reporters at the Daily News would enjoy sinking their teeth into this industry as much as managed care, telecom or some of the other industries they cover.
Rodger Jacobs writes OJR.org: Whether we like it or not, porn is as firmly entrenched in our contemporary culture as the Internet itself is. Taking that as a statement of fact, I do believe that, yes, the industry should be covered -- to the best of their abilities -- by mainstream press. I've heard many mainstream editors, however, complain that an article about porn that is not to some degree negative in its assessment could be interpreted as an "endorsement" of the industry.
The New Netpond.com
XXX writes: Meatman wants to make the new NetPond a true contribution to the industry, and its obvious he is hoping to regroup the 200K or so he spent chasing the lawsuit filed 2 years ago? Heard AGA partnered with Meat because he was a debt holder from the defunct Traffic Inc, and took the surrendering of NetPond to Meat and himself as payment in full. Heard Nick@Ilynx.com, former Netpond operater, had to sign a non compete clause and cannot get involved in a webmaster resource site.
High School Gangbang
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Ten Coeur d'Alene High School students were charged with sexual exploitation for videotaping themselves having sex with a 16-year-old female classmate, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said Tuesday.
The incident occurred on May 25, when the students were supposed to be attending the funeral of a classmate. One count of felony possession of sexually exploitive material was filed against each of the students in juvenile court because the students were 16 and 17 years old. Douglas said charges of rape were not warranted in the case.
West Coast Productions Finally 18 #3
Patrick Riley writes on RAME: Finally 18 #3 from West Coast Productions. When will these assholes get their act in gear. This movie is taking forever to write the review due to cast problems.
Credits: Kim--damaged belly, and a distinctive tailbone tattoo with the word
"Casey". Who is this? I don't remember a "Casey" tailbone tattoo. Lithe and passable.
Cris--this is Sunrise Adams, niece of Sunset Thomas
Brooke--no obvious tattoos, sh len blonde hair, too much eye makeup. Is this Monica Meyer aka Monica Mayhem, the Australian broad? She says she has only done a couple of movies but you know how these women lie. Time for the mole-by-mole comparison.
Sarah and Kami--one of these is Molly Rome and the other is Morgan Jericho but which is which? Should I take wording sequence as definitive? If I could find a copy of the box it might clarify matters but Jaded has #1 in place of #3 and West Coast Productions themselves haven't yet worked out that they've released #3 (what morons; how do they expect to sell it if they don't even put it up on their own website? And the prices! Sheesh! Does someone actually pay $29.95 for this gonzo stuff?)
Tonya--now this one is cute. Small/medium tits, passable face, lithe
body. Scene with her b/f I think. Near rape...well, it really is rape
but no physical abuse--just terror
If anyone has seen the movie or works for WCP maybe they can clarify matters. End of that.
Venus Rising (Angela Costello). Looked forward to seeing her in Fast Times at Deep Crack High #3 even if she was only going to do a g/g. Rented movie. Disaster! Lee Stone screws her including an anal (first I think and a big change from the g/g's of recent movies) including all the raincoater favorites: ATM, PTM, facial. Not much gaping though. Lots of the anal is in missionary and with her legs drawn up her belly is a disaster. Very visible...ugly. And she sounds under the weather from something...drugs, booze? Body's getting thin too. Flesh just hangs. Oh well, another for the rehab clinic. Off my list.
Same movie there's a new Czech woof-woof, Jessica. Looks almost as bad as Jessica Jewel. And while we're on ugliness, the movie has Calli Cox and Belladonna (I thought she'd retired?). Yuk! Same movie.
These people (Celestial Productions) are cutting a little close to the line aren't they? Deep Crack HIGH? Kaylynn is sent to "Detention" which looks just like detention might in high school. I thought the industry had decided that for safety's sake everyone was going to be a college student? Does the industry have a death wish?
Hey I love them young (as you all know
Besides the high school/college idea (especially the student bribing the teacher/dean with sex) has become as hackneyed as the pool boy/pizza boy. Revolutionary idea: how about a scenario that is the most natural in real life: a date?
Steve Seidman from Adult Stars Magazine writes: While I was reading the papers I found out that Wicked girl Alexa was performing at Toosie's a local Gentleman's Club in North Miami Beach, so I decided as a fair reporter to try and get a little more insight on her leaving the business and now wanting to return. Here is the exclusive story given to ASM for PNN [Porn News Network].
ASM: You are quoted as saying hard-core is getting to me so you left Wicked.
Alexa: Tentively left Wicked
ASM: Tentively?
Alexa: Yes, I am still technically under contract. I still have the same terms and I plan to fulfill everything I need to do. I am still working with Wicked to do something that will benefit both Wicked and myself, but my priority is to complete my contract and I will not renege on my agreement with them.
ASM. You say you'll never turn your back on the industry yet you don't want to be labeled a porn star!
Alexa: Well, what I've realized is that you're going to be labeled something for the rest of your life, a doctor or lawyer, so why not be labeled something you'll have fun with! People now respect the industry more because it's labeled as a business. One of the reasons I left was because of the stress that I was going through at the time. My grandmother dying of breast cancer, my parents saying you live 2500 miles away I never see you, the scholarships from schools that I'll never bother with and also a boyfriend that never wanted me near the industry. My problem was that I never really sat down a thought out my decision and this is one of my character flaws, I do things by acting out. When I first got out things were good, I went back to training my horses, my equestrian team is third in the state right now and we're going to nationals, so all that's good. But, I've started miss the fact that the adult industry, especially Wicked was like a family and I started to see a pattern because my own family I turned my back on, I lied to them, I made promises I could not keep and I'm trying to mend that but in doing so I hurt my second family, I hurt Wicked. I've lost a lot of respect from them and while they supported my decision I went about it the wrong way. Do I miss the industry? YES. It was a lot of fun; the people are nice now there are some people you have to watch out for.
ASM: But that's true in all businesses.
ALEXA: But at Wicked I felt safe, I knew that my product was going to be top of the line. They gave me so many chances; they saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself. All the directors would sit and talk with me and said this is the way and the only other time I had this much concern for me was with my equestrian team. I do want to go back and apologize to everybody for doing them wrong. I want to work off what ever I have left on the agreement, and I do realize that I'm not getting paid but I want to fulfill all my obligations. Then I'd like to sit down and talk with them about working with them, maybe as a non-contract girl. I really want to take things slow and not make any quick decisions and not make any promises I can't keep and do the responsible thing.
ASM: What are the rumors about Sin City?
Alexa: It's just a rumor. There were two people in the industry that talked me about how Wicked didn't like you and it's nothing but a competition so f--- Wicked and me being the naïve person I decided to listen another one of my character flaws. The same day one of the people made a call to New Sensations, they asked about my contractual obligation to Wicked and I lied saying nothing, which was a lie, because I do have the responsibilities to Wicked. Someone else called Sin City and had them call me. I later called Michael Raven, there was no mention of contract ever, maybe working on a couple of films, but no one mentioned contract it was never discussed, all they said was that it would be nice to work with them.
ASM: After talking with Alexa for a while I realized that this was a 21 year old that realized that she made some mistakes and wants to make amends. She seemed to be quite sincere and all I can do is wish her the best. Hopefully you'll get to see her as she does a great show while at the clubs.
IFC2000.com vs Norm Wilson
Sid Hutchins writes: Hey all you crazy kids, it's the Sidster again and boy do I have the latest skinny on the boychicks over at Phoenix Fulfillment! That kiddie porn dog sure won't quit chasin' Norm Wilson--in fact, boys and girls, he's about to sink his teeth in. The following court declaration is the prime choice cut that just fell into the Sidster's lap, courtesy of Mr. Doberman Pinscher:
"I, Steven C. Konecny, declare as follows:
"1. I am a manager employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. I managed the work of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is the subject of this attached request. If called as a witness, I could and would competently testify to the following facts and circumstances.
"2. On April 20, 2001, the Receiver of the Internet Fulfillment Company ("IFC") engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers for consulting services to include information technology support. PricewaterhouseCoopers' role was to assist in securing technology assets once the receiver took control of IFC.
"3. On April 20, 2001 through April 22, 2001, I created forensic images of the hard drives residing in the computers for employees of IFC as selected by the Receiver. A forensic image is an exact copy of all electronic information contained on a hard drive created without changing the contents of the original hard drive. The hard drive from the computer in Norman Wilson's office was copied in this manner. I have routinely performed or directed forensic imaging on numerous occasions in connection with engagements undertaken by our firm.
"4. On May 1, 2001 through May 3, 2001, the forensic images were analyzed at the request of the Receiver. Actions performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the analysis of the forensic images included: (1) restoring the image to a sanitized hard drive; (2) creating lists of all active files and deleted files residing in the File Allocation Table including properties for each file; (3) recovering files from the 'Recycle Bin'; and (4) unerasing files that have been marked as deleted by the operating system but not as yet written over.
"5. During the inspection of the contents taken from the computer in Norman Wilson's office, I discovered the following: (1) pornographic and nude images of individuals I believe to be under the age of 16 on files that were undeleted; (2) pornographic and nude images of individuals I believe to be under the age of 16 in the 'Temporary Internet Folder'; and (3) pornographic motion video files of individuals I believe to be under the age of 16 in the 'Recycle Bin.'
"I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration was executed this 2lst day of May, 2001 in __________ California."
And there you have it! The Sidster's attaching gifs of the scanned originals to prove the authenticity of his sources. By this time tomorrow, we should see the Wilson camp behind those steely grey bars and believe you me, the boys inside'll just be itchin' to knock the soap outta the goateed one's hands. Remember, you heard it here first. Off the record, on the Q-T, and very... Hush-Hush.
Luke F-rd says: Well, the Norm Wilson and his "camp" are definitely not behind bars. That what appears to be child porn is alleged to have been found on Norm Wilson's old computer does not necessarily mean that he put there.
Norm Wilson writes: Hi Luke, Gary just forwarded me the latest pile of crap from IFC. Obviously they are unhappy with their lives. I haven't responded to the last hate letter from them as it came from an anonymous source with a phony Netzero account. I have no knowledge of the images found by Price Waterhouse and can inform you as I have in the past that the computer in my office was the only one with news server access. As our company did not engage in any dealings with models under the age of eighteen I can only assume that that might be the source. I guess they will continue the hate campaign as long as they feel it is hurting me or my associates. It is not and we are proceeding with building the new company. Many former IFC affiliates have committed to moving to Phoenix Fulfillment as soon as we are up and running (approximately July 15th). We will not add any hate from our camp....there is enough in the world already.
Gary Horn writes: Luke, Thanks for the heads up. Obviously Sid Hutchins is part of the IFC camp and they are slinging mud. That is the only way they could obtain these documents (that I have not seen, nor do I care to). I do not think that Norm nor myself have engaged in that type of slander. Norm was the victim of a malicious lawsuit that was part of a carefully planned hostile takeover. They have IFC, Norm walked away.
This Steven C. Konecny is no expert on the ages of models. Norm was involved in a publishing deal in Holland where the models and age of consent is sixteen.
Luke says: I spoke Wednesday morning with attorney Joseph C. McGowan, part of the law firm Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald LLP representing the plaintiffs Yvette Momot, James Crawford and Adult Web Fulfillment LLC.
McGowan says: "I don't have the declaration in front of me but that was the substance of it. We did submit such a declaration by Mr. Konecny of Price Waterhouse Coopers. It is authentic.
"The plaintiffs are not trying to publicize in any way any of the court documents. They are public record and if someone has gotten them, as apparently they have, I'm not going to deny the authenticity of documents we submit.
"We have a tentative settlement of this case and I think all the parties are working towards resolving this issue in good faith. We're happy to see them settling with both Mr. Wilson and the other defendents including his wife Elizabeth Wilson.
"As you know, Norm is competing with us now. We can go out separate ways and hopefully there's enough room in the business for both of us."
I spoke Wednesday morning with Norm Wilson.
Norm: "What Price Waterhouse has got was filed with the court. It is a public document. My point is, who's screaming about this? The people who planted that s--- there? It's an open office. They say it's my computer. Well, they are all my computers. It was a computer in my office. Right. My office was not a locked office off in a corner somewhere that nobody could access. I had machines on 24 hours a day and everybody in the place has access to it. Who's making the point about it? They are.
"It seems suspicious to me. They're doing it under a phony email address registered to somebody in Beverly Hills. I've already checked with Netzero. It's not a real person. This whole thing stinks. It's a dirty trick that they've pulled out of a hat full of them.
"What's the motivation for these anonymous motherf---ers [Norm's accuser Sid Hutchins and company] who don't have the balls to put their name down? They're afraid of me. I have no record of violence. I've never threatened anyone. I have no criminal convictions.
"I just called them up and said, 'If you're going to keep pushing that, I'm not going to settle. Screw you.' Apparently, I may have to settle as we have already agreed to settle. I'm tired of the whole damn thing. I just want to deal with them in the marketplace.
"I just spoke to my lawyer. But apparently I'm already locked in to a settlement."
Luke: "Do you think this could've been stuff from the 16 series out of Amsterdam, where it is legal to use 16-year old girls?"
Norm: "I have no idea what it is because I've never seen it. Obviously, if the DA was going to do something about it, they would've done something about it now."
Luke: "How's your new company Phoenix Fulfillment coming along?"
Norm: "We're going live on the 15th. We're scrambling around getting database stuff done this week. It will be a non-ending project obviously as they all are. I don't want to say more. Let's get the settlement done. I want to take a few bucks while they still have them."
Luke: "So they are paying you some money?"
Norm: "They're paying me a minimal amount of money. I just wanted to get my legal expenses taken care of and walk away clean. There's no point in going on with this [legal dispute with his former partners in IFC2000.com]. As I said in our first interview, it could cost me another $250,000 to win my company back. Which I'm sure I would, because I did nothing wrong. And what am I going to win back? They've already screwed it. I saw their receiver's report. It's a matter of public record too.
"Their sales in May were $146,000. Sales in January were over $500,000."
Luke: "Have you figured out yet why your partners in IFC did this?"
Norm: "Greed. They didn't understand what I was doing with the company. They never visited. They never darkened my door. They never looked at what was going on. They never helped. I hadn't had a dime of investment capital since June 1998, and that was what the 35% partner was there for. I've already invested twice as much capital in Phoenix Fulfillment which I built in five weeks."
The star player in the group opposing Norm Wilson is Yvette Momot, the only one of Norm's partners who worked at IFC. Norm fired her a few months ago for theft.
Norm: "I don't want to get into any back and forth accusations. I want this to be over with. Let them settle with me. We'll see who's standing in sex months."
JMT writes: Luke: Since you were unaware that Snoop Doggy Dogg is a negro, I imagine that it is also news to you that "Sid Hutchins" is a character created by contemporary noir novelist James Ellroy. Hutchins was the sleazy gossip columnist in "L.A. Confidential" (portrayed by Danny DeVito in the movie) and a few of Ellroy's other novels set in 1950's Los Angeles. The person submitting the e-mails under this name has taken pains to compose them in the style of Ellroy's chararcter ("Remember, you heard it here first. Off the record, on the Q-T, and very... Hush-Hush"), indicating that the person has actually read the book. Since so very few of the people you write about appear to have read a book in their lives, I would not think it would be too difficult for anyone familiar with the field of suspects to deduce who is sending you these notes.
Shay Sights, Kianna Visit New York City
From NYCFantasies.com: The verdict is in and the critics have spoken. Shay Sights in a bonafide superstar. After her many adventures in the nude modeling world, Shay decided it was time to dive straight into adult films. When Shay's not showing off her gorgeous nude form, she's either working out, reading, gardening, or hanging out with her favorite pal, her pet Chihuahua Simon. Just when you thought she couldn't get any better, Shay recently took up the art of yoga, both for meditation purposes and to improve her flexibility onscreen and off! Set your sights on this girl. She's bound to go far!
As for her best friend Kianna, sex goddess and rock idol Stevie Nicks was once quoted as saying, "I think every woman should have a bit of mystery about her. Mystery is very sexual. You don't want to let everyone know everything about yourself or they suddenly become very uninterested. "
Kianna, one of the hottest little starlets to enter the industry in quite some time, has taken Stevie's advice to heart. Kianna keeps herself under wraps for the most part, except of course when shooting hot layouts for only her favorite photographers. Kianna's stunning 5'7" frame has been featured in practically every adult publication across the globe. Her natural, homespun beauty and erotic aura are enough to keep fans begging for more. Meet these superstars alone or together as Double Trouble! To view Shay Sights' and Kianna's portfolios, tour dates and rates visit our website: www.nycfantasies.com To book an appointment, call: (212) 253-8222
Supplying Drugs To Talent
LT writes on RAME: Many porn producers, directors, agents, etc. have broken existing laws for years. Some quite severe. They simply haven't been busted. Sometimes it's because those in charge of the enforcing are looking the other way. And that has nothing to do with what particular political party controls them either. The other big excuse (cop-out) is "we're underfunded and understaffed" Uh huh.
Mathew writes on RAME: They broke laws? Which ones? If you're referring to fisting & urination, those aren't proscribed by any law--producers have shied away from that stuff because they perceived it as being "over the line" and didn't want to attract prosecution. There are no acts which are specifically prohibited from being shown in a pornographic representation; just a vague prohibition of "obscenity", whatever the hell that is.
LT replies: No, not fisting & urination. Those could open up obscenity prosecutions, but I'm talking about true laws. On the book stuff. Which ones?...geez, where to start? The first that springs to mind is the ever present racketeering, which seems to be omnipresent at almost every level. Drug laws (not so much possession, but distribution - which goes to another level again if providing the actress with the alcohol or narcotic and *then* filming her while in that state), assault and battery (the physical abuse i.e. "Rough Sex"), the incidents of non-consensual acts, medical fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion, blackmail, making terrorist threats, coercion, bad checks, forgery. You name it, they've likely done it...many counts worth. These are just the ones that readily come to mind that I am aware of!...and that's just state laws. It's hard for me to come up with a federal agency that couldn't be involved. Maybe not the FAA :-) Printing the sham that is the "White Paper" really leaves the whole industry open and compounds the problems when so many do just the opposite of what it insists doesn't go on in the adult entertainment business.
Frank Simmons writes on RAME: I suspect he is talking about the not uncommon practive of supplying illegal drugs to porn starlets on the set. And I doubt he's all that concerned about pot either, however there are documented cases of other more potent drugs. Most famous is the late Savannah showing up and demanding heroin before she would perform, and the fact that they went out an acquired it for her, rather than just firing her on the spot or something. Other starlets have been noted for heroin use, so I doubt that this was an isolated incident. Something tells me that the coke that Traci and Shauna used to do all the time wasn't exactly frowned upon either. And I seem to recall reading on Luke F-rd a year ago or so about a director who was quite proud of having discovered that the best, quickest way of using Ecstacy was anally - somehow I doubt he would refuse it to the "talent".
Luke Gets Mail
Ian writes: Hi Luke, I've just come across the name McKayla Matthews on your site. It's only the second time I've seen it in print, the first being on a set of mpeg clips I recently picked up from the net. They were positively awesome! I don't know who the man with her was - he looked like Julian, but I'm not sure (he had a kind of barbed wire tattoo high on his right bicep and tattoos on his ankles). Both of them looked as if they were enjoying each other very much indeed. Now that's my kind of porn!
Porn star Logan LaBrent writes: I am on this month's AVN magazine "Fresh Off The Bus" by Mark Kernes, plus i'm on the cover of Michael Raven's/Sin City's "Risque". Also coming out soon is Mike Quasar's/Metro films I'm in "Destiny Calling" and "Valley Heat". I'm also on the upcoming November issue/cover of Hustler's "Busty Beauties".
The Next Viacom?
On the set of Sopornos 3, I met Dr. Robert Charles Davis who plans to produce a series of mainstream films based on his novels. Porn star T.J. Hart will likely get a role in one of his productions. Davis (Suspense.films@gte.net) seeks venture capital. He writes: "We have already invested $2.3 million of our own cash and currently need development funding for the Doomsday Kiss feature film.
"Suspense Films will use the Alex Seacourt thrillers, similar to New Line Cinema's "Friday the 13th" Freddie Krugger series, to build a distribution company-and eventually become the next Viacom!"
From Adam Glasser's Prosecutor Deborah L. Sanchez
Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney Deborah L. Sanchez writes Luke: "Hi, I read article today on your web site. I wanted to let you know that the obscenity convictions I told you about were NOT lesser charges. They were distribution of obscenity convictions. Rarely have the charges been reduced to something else. Your readers may want to know that.
"Also, the Mother Productions tapes returned to LAPD, only involved the master tapes. It wasn't hundreds. It was only 5-6 masters. Thank you."
Deborah Sanchez appears around 40 years of age and has about ten years experience working for the Los Angeles City Attorney. She now heads the "Special Enforcement" division and works closely with detectives from the LAPD's Organized Crime and Vice Division. She's successfully prosecuted several pornographers over the past few years for distributing obscenity. Any of the seven deadly sins are likely to bring prosecution from Sanchez.
Don't let her smile and amiable ways fool you - this woman knows how to convict aberrant pornographers. Sanchez, like her peers, believes that it is not at all clear that any hardcore tapes are necessarily legal. It's just that her office, so far, is only prosecuting porners who step over the line into urination, fisting, defecation, rape and similar deviant material. Her office knows all about Rob Black and Extreme Associates and they are biding their time before they bust him. When they do, they know Rob will be on the evening news constantly making his case. They know Rob wants to fight. I'm sure his turn is coming soon.
With all the skeletons in former mayor Richard Riordan's closet, including his purported connections to scandalous figures, it was no surprise that Riordan left the sex industry alone. Mayor Hahn, with conservative Christian values on porn, should be a different story. The LA Times hasn't assigned two reporters to the porn beat, for the first time ever, because they think things are going to be quiet over the next few months.
From GeneRossExtreme.com:
Voltaire Jones writes: You guys should back off this anti-Glasser stuff. If you read what happened in court Monday you would know that Glasser is not rolling over, and he's not sending people to Extreme. All of your site speaks to your own paranoia about Glasser somehow pointing LA Vice to your products. And by all accounts he hasn't even mentioned your company at all. And by all accounts LA Vice is well aware of generossextreme.com and all of Extreme's products in any case.
I think Glasser deserves some credit for not rolling over. As stated in the Luke F-rd article, this is not the first case prosecuted in 8 years, it is instead the first case that has gone to court in 8 years. Everyone else rolled over. So give him some credit, and stand behind him until you have proof positive that he has somehow acted the way you are afraid he might act, possibly a projection of the way Black would act if caught in the same situation.
Gene sez: Yeah, and we know some of the things that happened in court Monday because a little birdy came back to this office and told us about it. When Glasser brought in a box of tapes, the prosecutors asked if those were Extreme tapes as if they were expecting them. Wouldn't that question seem a bit odd to you. Someone in Glasser's inner circle ratted out that his strategy was going to be one of pointing the finger of guilt at Extreme. We've merely made it very difficult for him to do so. Regardless, he will beat the rap. Ain't no way you're gonna get any kind of obscenity conviction in LA on straight porn, especially if Cincinnati finds a gay tape to be not obscene. Everyone involved in prosecuting Glasser should hang their heads in shame. Especially the Free Speech Coalition which continues its peculiar non-involvement with the affairs of this industry.
Voltaire writes Gene: Very odd that Vice would ask Glasser about Extreme. The take on that by Ford was that the Vice dept is reading l-keford.com and generossextreme.com and is not as ignorant as we all guessed. I guess we are supposed to think (based on their quotes in LF's article) that they are blase civil servants who attack porners only because the public demands it. But it's hard for the general public, or at least the significant portion of the general public that consumes porn, to believe that the Vice people aren't a bunch of prudish schoolmarms that want to put people in jail because Seymour's girls didn't keep a thumb on the outside. (From GeneRossExtreme.com)
From Tod-Hunter.com:
I was going through Luke's site (of course I read Luke's site, and everybody else's. Don't you?) And I missed the importance of this entirely until Tom over at AVN Online pointed it out. Read this:
"Deputy City Attorney Deborah L. Sanchez was supposed to show at 8AM but doesn't make it until 9:30 AM. ... 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 home page for her previous supervisor. Her big boss, Jim Hahn, is now Los Angeles's mayor. 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 haven't gone to trial. Porners have pled guilty to lesser charges."
Tod Hunter writes: "This woman is a city attorney. She recognized Luke, she keeps up on all the porn sites, and her last supervisor was using Luke as a homepage. I thought "Yeah, yeah," but it was Tom who pointed out that the law enforcement community is reading the sites: if somebody blows off about how they had this 15-year-old girl and they d.p.'d her with Coke bottles and you can see it in the new Atrocities Volume 37 - THE AUTHORITIES WILL KNOW ABOUT IT. Like I said, let's be careful out there." (Tod-Hunter.com)
Luke says: Unlike Tod-Hunter.com and AVN.com and other industry web sites, I have no concerns about the health of the industry. I report and opine and you decide what happens to the industry. I don't care about the porno industry. If law enforcement reads my site, then I feel honored.
RPM writes: "Tod Hunter has it explained to him that the Feds may read porn gossip sites, and his first concern is for pornographers who might put themselves at risk of being caught using underage girls in films. "Let's be careful out there," he warns. No wonder that sad ancient hipster is so nostalgic for the 1940s. He may not have rationalized away all of his decency back then."
Tod Hunter replies: "Tell RPM for me that the term I used was "blow off" with the implication that it wasn't true. Anybody who really shoots a d.p. with Coke bottles with an underage girl deserves to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Deborah Sanchez emails Luke at 6:24 PM Tuesday: "Hi again, I've been busy and away, so I am sorry for this late response. To answer the questions: I can tell you that we don't "monitor" any sites. We just occassionally look at the sites that have adult industry news. No, we don't "monitor" or look at porn sites. Your site was bookmarked on the former supervisor's computer, but it was not a "homepage.""
Mark Kernes writes for AVN.com: "The major fight was whether or not we could offer comparable materials," explained Diamond, in an exclusive interview with AVN.com. "The judge ruled in our favor. The city attorney argued that the Heller case, which I won - that was my case, People v. Heller, 1979 - if you can believe this, the city attorney said that was an outdated case. I said, 'It's not been overruled, and therefore never been disapproved.' And I said, 'Also, it was my case, so it couldn't be that outdated; I'm still alive.' So the judge ruled in my favor. Then the judge said, 'Now that we've won the battle to get comparable materials in, the question still remains as to what's comparable. And that's a very complicated issue as to what's comparable to what is being charged.'
"The city attorney takes the position that only fisting is comparable," Diamond continued. "The idea now will be to show how silly this distinction is; would eight fingers be the same as fisting, or does the thumb make the difference?"
"The city attorney said, 'Well, in view of that [decision on the motion], we're not prepared to go forward on comparable materials because they were just given to us today. We don't know whether it's comparable or not; we haven't had a chance to look at these movies,'" Diamond recounted. "I said, 'Well, trust me, it is, because they have repeated acts, same thing.' And they said, 'But it doesn't have fisting in it.' I said, 'Well, that doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be exactly the same to be comparable.' And they said that what they were really upset about was the fisting scenes, as opposed to the anal. And I said, 'But a jury isn't asked to make a finding as to particular parts of a movie; they're just given the general question about whether a movie is obscene or not, and under the obscenity law, the entire movie is considered as a whole. You don't break it down into parts. So the jury may very well look at the movie, Tampa Tushy Fest, and conclude, subjectively to itself, that the fisting is okay but they don't like the anal. So if we're not allowed to put in evidence of anal comparable materials, then what would prevent the jury from making an erroneous assumption as to what was being charged with being obscene, in light of the fact that the movie has to be considered as a whole?' So we basically gave them exhibits and argued the point." (Tod-Hunter.com)
