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Thursday, October 29, 1998

After years of problems with drugs, Trinity died of an overdose of prescription painkillers. "Probably not a suicide attempt," says a source.

I received a tearful call this evening from an old friend of Trinity, single mom and returned porn star Sukoya aka Angela D'Angelo aka Amber, grieving over the loss.

Trinity is the ex-wife of Shane Hunter aka Barry Woods. They had a painful breakup seven years ago, shortly after the birth of their daughter Tess.

Loren lived alone in Burbank with her daughter and was working on a book about her life. She'd been taking anti-depressants for years to deal with her seizures. Her friends thought she'd conquered her drug problems.

VCA's production coordinator Stephanie Ross writes: "A good friend of ours, Barry Wood's [ex] wife, Roxanne [Trinity Loren] died this weekend. I am asking for donations to help Barry with funeral services and for the care of his 8 year old daughter [Tess].

"Anything is appreciated. You can bring donations to Stephanie Ross at VCA, 9650 DeSoto Ave., Chatsworth, Ca. 91311. 818/718-0202 ext. 222 Please help Barry in this time of need."

Martin Brimer: "Barry Woods is a great guy who has given much to this industry. I just want to say that I feel deeply for his loss and his child's loss and, to echo Stephanie Ross's sentiments, I urge everyone to do what they can to help Barry in his time of need. Godspeed, Trinity."

Amber entered porn in 1989 and appeared in over 100 videos over the next two years until retiring in 1991. She married and had a baby girl. Divorced, she reentered porn in July 1998 to earn money.

With her four year old crying and playing in the background, Amber said she'd appeared in eight features over the past few months and appears on the boxcover of Thomas Paine's Raging Hormones.

Pat Riley describes her as "Dark skinned but doesn't look Oriental or black. Tattoo [dragon] on left hip and serpent on left breast. Big tits (natural) and flat ass. Looks like Mia Powers. 5'10", 120 lbs., 36C-24-34, grew up in Albequerque NM."

Amber: "My appearance has changed for the better. I've put on about 15 pounds. I was really thin before. I looked like a drug addict. I wasn't. I've had braces. I now have long brownish red hair.

"I'm Irish, Italian and American Indian.

"I met Trinity in the business in 1990. We were best friends. I'd stay at her house. She was a beautiful person inside and out. She was caring. She was there for people. If I ever needed a baby sitter, she'd pick up my daughter and let her spend the night. She was very close to her little girl. They were always hugging and affectionate...

"I'm in shock [over Loren's passing]. It still hasn't gotten to me yet. I can't believe it.

"I left the industry because I was scared of AIDS but now with condoms it's safer. I'm with Jim South.

"I had moved out of town and sold (for $500) a large antique mirror  (appraised at $24,000) through the Recycler... When she [Trinity Loren] came back into town, she went to this small antique store in Burbank and bought ($9000) my mirror. We could not believe it. It was at my place three months and we were looking at pictures. We thought that was a sign of us coming back together."

***

To meet AIM's monthly bills of about $10,000, Sharon Mitchell is calling various companies for more donations. AIM faces a severe uphill struggle to stay afloat which will test Sharon's fundraising skills to the limit.

A source: "TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1998 - VAN NUYS, CA The LA County permit office busted Ray Anderson and Bobby Rinaldi (of Tight Ends) today for shooting without a permit. Ray and Bobby got off easy--with only a warning--although they could have had their equipment and tapes impounded, fines levied, and potentially, arrests made. The Tight Ends producers were about a third of the way through the day's shoot when a man, identifying himself as LAPD (although dressed in civilian clothing), asked to see the production's shooting permit.

"Since no such permit was at hand, the officer shut down the shoot. Anderson and Rinaldi plan to resume shooting tomorrow. Rob Spallone will secure a legitimate shooting permit for them."

The Spallones are moving. Gourmet Video and its whole setup at 1360 Raymer is up for sale (another sign of the lack of profits in porn video). With Fat Dog, Rob plans to buy another studio and keep up his Star World Modeling.

PAW won its suit in Small Claims Court against Zane Entertainment. Zane did not show up to court Wednesday so PAW (represented by Sharon Mitchell) won automatically. The suit was over Zane's failure to pay for various HIV tests after their girl Kristen (matt's girlfriend at the time) received a false positive on the PCR DNA test for HIV. Luke erroneously reported a coupleof weeks ago that the suit was for slander over Zane's speaking ill of PAW. Luke was wrong.

Latest AVN (11/98) is out and contains a guest editorial by Chuck Zane promoting condoms and a column by Paul Fishbein criticizing as tasteless the bareback (no condom) advertising of such companies as Extreme. Porners usually appear eager to seize AVN when it comes out to look for pictures of themselves, writeups and reviews. Definitely the most influential industry mag.

Jasmine St. Clair phoned. She's done her first girl-girl hardcore layout (with Harmony Grant, an ex-John Bone contract girl), shot by Tony Ward (author of book Obsession) for Penthouse. "We  [Harmony and Jas] compliment edeach other well because of our skin tones and eye colors. That's the closest I'll get to a pussy.

"I shoot a movie for Jane Waters December 8th called Prisoners of Love that I dedicate to all my fans in prison. We get lots of fan mail from prison every day. Some of those guys will get out alive and some won't. It's thoughtful of them to write to me. They have a lot of time on their hands... Then we're doing a love story in January with Jane and his girlfriend Lizzy Borden.

"I love my first scene for Acid Sex. They use five cameras. I play baby Jesus."

Jasmine appears in ads for Epitone Guitars.

Rog Pipe writes: "After I introduce myself as an internet reporter, I have to assure him [Jane Waters] that I am not a certain other net reporter. Once I had passed the security tests, Waters was completely friendly. Although this is not his first effort, Jane is still fairly new to the title of director. "I've only directed about twenty films, but I've shot over a thousand." This is his second effort for Extreme ("Night Stalker" being the first.) "The Pornographer" is to be more of a feature than his last film, yet the crew is still minimal. "I'm used to working with bigger crews, but this is working out just fine." In addition to the feature, Waters has been shooting a behind the scenes piece for cable release. "We're shooting a 'making of' since this is a group effort. To let people see what goes into making an adult film." We have time to talk a bit more, and am not surprised to find out that Jane made his way into porn via Gregory Dark. "I met him and first worked with him on his documentary 'Fallen Angles' and my first job in the business was editing 'New Wave Hookers.'" "

Ex sex worker Katherine Green  aka Kate (amateur videos only, worked frequently with her hubby 'Damien') writes:

About 4 years ago I moved to CA from NY to try the stripping circuit out here. I went to the Christmas Parade in Hollywood and met Chaz Vincent, who worked for Jim South, and her boyfriend, Dizzy, who worked in the industry, and moved in with them. Dancing wasn't very profitable so Chaz bought me into Jim's office to take test shots and get started in amateur. The first one I shot was with Alex Jordan under her own line, I worked with Alex, her husband and Ian Daniels. Along the way I worked for Rodney Moore, Ron Hightower, Scott Fox, Max Hardcore and Jim & Heidi Lane. Jim & Heidi asked if I could do a DP, which I never had done, I told them I would try it, but no promises. When the scene started, it was easy enough, I fooled around with both guys and they played with me but when the actual penetration began, I quickly realized that my body just wasn't build for douple penetration. The pain was unbearable, I screamed out in pain, which couldn't possibly be mistaken for ectasy but noone helped. In fact, they suggested that maybe if Ron Jeremy took the place for anal it would be easier so Ron started. It didn't help, the pain was again intense, I yelled out, but this time they just kept shooting, telling me to be patient, it would be over soon. The next thing I knew people were pinning me down, tears were running down my face and this stripper chick from Las Vegas was holding my arms telling me how good it felt, to just let it happen and relax. No one stopped, no matter how much I cried out or yelled, as you can imagine it was the most traumatic experience that had ever happened in my life. When they finally got all the footage they needed, they were mean and quick to show me the door. I contemplated calling Jim South, since he was the one who obviously gave my information to Jim & Heidi, but I was so scared and I knew that if I went to the police they wouldn't do anything either, so I just tried to forget about it. After a couple of years of drinking, drug abuse and bad relationships, I finally realized that I hadn't forgotten about it. It was always there, in my dreams, everywhere. The adult business is full of disallusioned women who think that f---ing on film makes them some sort of celebrity. They think that they are different from prostitutes and are insulted when called that, but what is the difference, besides the cameras, "scripts" , and pretty pictures?

If you choose to print this, use my name freely, I have nothing to lie about or anything to hide. By telling you this, I have nothing to gain only to lose. I lose this burden and nightmare that I have kept to myself. I have seen the evilness of porn and it is scary.

Johnny Denim replies: "After reading this and watching the rapid growth of the Extreme/Gonzo/Anal trend in the industry into the #1 genre in the buisness and the HIV/AIDS outbreak in this faction of the industry leads me to ask this question: Now will people believe me when I say that the high-end and low-end of the adult film industry should have to play by two sets of rules?

"I've watched the industry near the brink of legitamacy three years ago and have watched it sink close to glorified prostitution. (38, 50, 300,500 man gang-bangs? Give me a f---ing break!) THIS IS NOT THE PORN INDUSTRY I SWORE TO DEFEND! We were finally getting to the level we enjoyed back in the late 70's and early 80's with good FILMS, good directors and good sex all in one package. Today we're stuck with super gang-bangs and low class hacks with a cheap cam-coarders and dirty, lousy quality sex in many packages. I know a lot of people who write for Luke hate the Wicked's and Vivid's of the world but those who do shouldn't consider the old classic 70's movies classics because these companys are the only ones trying to make movies that good. Nobody else cares.

"I think that the only way to see the industry get to the level it is in Europe in acceptance is to wipe out the extreme (gang-bang and beyond), gonzo, ameture and anal movies. This faction of the industry is destroying it. Have you noticed that all of the AIDS and HIV cases lately have only been from performers in this faction of the industry? Sanity and good sense has to prevail in order for this industry to grow. I hope that the FSC (Free Speech Coalition) gets the green light to form an Adult Performers Guild. That is the first step. Mainly because the only reason these girls are doing these kind of painful and high risk acts is for the money. Also these girls aren't being payed very well. (in some cases not at all.) With a guild in place that will stop."

Charles: "[Vivid Girl] Leslie Glass was on Howard Stern this [Wed.] morning talking about her cancer. She said that she had 60+ tumors on her liver and she was involved in some new experimental procedure from Denmark or Holland and that has removed 67 tumors from her liver. She said that she was not supposed to live to see Halloween but now she is doing so well that she tried to contact Daryl Strawberry (NY Yankees outfielder diagnosed with colon cancer last month)  to tell him about this new procedure but none of his people would talk to her.

"When Howard asked if she contracted cancer from anal sex she told him that her doctors told her that is very rare and is usually found right around the anus, rather than on the upper colon. She said that she had just started enjoying anal sex in the last year. Also, Leslie said that the cancer was on her intestine, it enlarged and then it wrapped around her liver and spread to her liver. She was told that it is usually fatal once it has spread to the liver, but her new experimental treatment (at the Univ. of Maryland Medical Center) has been very effective in the removal of tumors.

"She also put a plug in for the benefit in NY city this week for her, where a $20 donation gets the average person into the party and a chance to meet some Penthouse Pets. Howard asked her why Bob Guccionne was not paying for her cancer treatments and she responded by saying that Penthouse has been wonderful and very supportive, and have even been flying her from Florida to Maryland for the treatments."

Veteran shooter Sal Sodano now resides in South America running a bookie operation for Rob Spallone.

SNeece1234@aol.com: "The word 'God' is used more often in porn than in mainstream flicks, such as crying out "oh god" ecstatically during sex.Would be interesting to find out how many times that is uttered in the course of a year in 8,000 videos!

"Saw "Orgazmo". Not bad but could have been better. I think they had the right idea of the ridiculousness of both porn and religion. They should have taken it further. Nice that it gave some performers SAG cards. Max Hardcore sounds prissy if not downright queenish. I suspect he may use those speculums on himself in private for some heavy bouts of rodent sex.

"So Rob Black is gonna dress Jasmin St. Claire up in Christ drag with a crown of thorns. I'll be anxious to see the vid when it is released to see if he has the balls to. I'll give him extra points if he has her masturbate with a large crucifix. He could say she was practicing self mortification if she mangled her gentitals in the process. That should placate any religious objections. Even then I don't think it would top my old pal Dakota (Ken Sprague) in the 1972 gay vid "Loadstar" who leapt off the cross in full Jesus drag to chase and eventually capture a young priest and forcibly sodomize him over a bench while he was being held down by 2 monks. The guy who played the priest was my roommate at the time.  Ken Sprague owned THE Golds gym at the time and a few years later he founded the NPC, the largest amateur bodybuilding federation in the world. Last I heard he was retired and living on a private island off the coast of Washington. Ah,the wages of vice!"

Martin Brimmer is moving back to San Francisco. He'll still write a feature a month for Wicked as well as write about the business for Swank and Hustler.

Brian Long responds to Johnny Denim who responded to Katherine Green:

I've watched a number of porns from the 70's and 80's. I've seen Vanessa Del Rio eat out a chick who had a bloody tampon hanging out of her crotch. I've seen huge amounts of anal sex going on. Guys cumming in champaign glasses and chicks drinking it up with straws. So, they have gonzo movies now. So the scripts are lame. So girls are taking on 100 guys in a gangbang.

As far as the gangbang goes, all that means is that they're getting f---ed by 100 guys that day, instead of spreading it out over a couple of months. Are you telling me that Vanessa Del Rio, Ginger Lynn, Linda Lovelace, and all the other respectable actresses of the 70's and 80's haven't had unprotected sex with 1000's of men in their career? So, some of the women are doing it today in a day, what difference does that make? Is it harder to catch AIDS if you have sex with 100 different men over a 6 month period than it is to have sex with 100 different men in a 6 hour period? Johnny Denim talks about the obsession with anal sex movies these days. This isn't new. Sure, the titles are a little bit more descriptive, but almost all the movies of the 70's and 80's contained anal sex, and just because the damn script was better and the title more "mainstream", and the acting was more professional doesn't change the fact that a woman had a dick in her ass. As for gonzo movies, well, go to a bloody xxx video store and gonzo movies are in a specialized section of the store. Mr. Denim, if you still want you scripts and plots and acting and story, the store's full of them. For the people who realize that the scripts suck, the acting is terrible, and are sick of hitting FF to get to the sex, the gonzo movies are there for them. I mean, let's face it, both films contain the same thing, real sex. It's not like if you have a script with acting that the sex scenes are simulated. Believe it or not, Johnny, they're still real. If it calls for an anal scene, and the woman finds herself in pain, the pain is just as real as it would be in a gonzo flick.

"You'll find lot's of 70's and 80's films with girls covered in cum, getting dp'd, having a fist or two in an orafice, just like you'll find today. Yes, the acting was very good then, the scripts were a little better, the title's could be seen as respectable ("The Devil in Miss Jones" as compared to "Girls Who Eat Cum"), but there is no denying that, besides yourself, every single renter of an adult film is ultimately interested in the scenes containing sex, and there is no difference in those scenes today than there was 5, 10, and 20 years ago."

Johnny Denim responds: "I understand your argument. However, where I come from there is no section for gonzo, feature or anything but straight, anal and gay movies. (in many stores up here gay and lesbian are in the same section.) So the features are usually burried in all of the crap. I've seen the really dirty stuff in features too but that was when the industry was new and was experimenting with different things. Today it's all advertised for shock value.

"There is absolutely no talent in these movies at all today yet they have made their way to the top of the adult film ladder. I, like many people want to see the industry become legit so people in the industry and those who support it like myself don't have to hide it as a dirty little secret anymore. This will never happen with the rise of super gang-bang and gonzos basically ruling the industry today.

"As for your other argument, I don't need reality in my movies. I watch for the fantasty element. If I want reality I can tape myself doing a girl and watch that. It would be better quallity then the crap out there now. I, too watch these movies for the sex but I want to be entertained by the film as well. Sex can be good but if the movie is of good quallity then the sex can look even better. This is why I prefer the Vivid and Wicked and VCA movies to the other crap. I still don't mind dp from time to time but when it's all you see then we have a problem. I just want to see the industry progress and the talent go up like in every other form of entertainment. With every new thing the expectation gets higher and that's the way it should be because that's the only way an industry grows."

SNeece1234@aol.com: "Brian, I have watched porn from the beginning(1970).You are inaccurate. There were only a few male performers in the industry in the 70's and 80's. I doubt if Vanessa Del Rio or Ginger Lynn had sex onscreen with even 50 different guys in the course of their career, or did anybody else in that time frame. Not nearly as many films or even loops were made then. Anals were far less common then. Get a copy of Jim Hollidays book "Only the Best" and try and rent the films he speaks of. Most will have no anal at all and anals were probably less than 15% of all sex acts in that period. In California product it was probably less than 10%. Yes,there were facials but it was probably less than 1/3 of all sex as opposed to 90% today.Yes, there was pissing and fisting then but in the overall number of sex scenes from that period the percentage was miniscule. Most of the fisting was girl/girl and I really don't think that is particularly extreme. I have only heard of 2 instances of anal fisting in straight porn,one of the fisters was a dwarf (male) and the other a female. In the case of the dwarf I doubt I doubt the stress was anywhere near as great as the double anals done today.

Yes, there were vids then that featured violence towards women but almost always it was part of a story and the perps were bad guys who got their just desserts in the end. What is most disturbing today is the obvious hatred and contempt of women inherent in them. A video only gets a fully erect rating if a woman is in obvious pain and covered in cum. No amount of sexual heat/passion/chemistry will arouse unless these elements are present. Also present is the attitude that any woman who likes sex is a pig and deserves to be abused. This is the retro attitude of 100 years ago and it seems it is alive & well.I believe cum is a piss substitute in facials. Fifty years ago Italian and Jewish hoods in New York City used to talk of jacking off over the face of an enemy they had beaten senseless or killed as a gesture of contempt. Some of these guys went on to become the first generation of porn company owners.

The anti-intillectualism in todays porn is also pervasive. Anything that isn't utterly mindless is looked on with hostility. You seem to hate anything that shows imagination or people enjoying sex as equals. Why? That was much of the charm of porn of the Golden Age. They acted like they truly enjoyed one another.Why is that thought so hateful to so many viewers? It would seem to me that they are targeting sexual cripples and losers at the bottom of the gene pool. It reminds me of pro wrestling. I think they have the same fan base. If this is true let me tell you one thing; don't express shock at the fact that most performers feel loathing and contempt for fans. How could they feel otherwise. Likewise, every wrestler I ever knew (I was in that biz) felt contempt for any fan over the age of puberty. The hate is mutual and you have nobody but yourselves to blame. I will put on a Hyapatia Lee/Annette Haven /Veronica Hart video and try and get the bad taste out of my mouth.

..........................

For the first time in a month, I stopped by Star World Modeling (10/27/98) to see Rob and Joe Spallone. They'd just received the November 1998 AVN and Rob was mad at Gene Ross in particular.

Rob glanced at Chuck Zane's editorial. "Wasn't he the one with Cherry Poppers? Now he's worried about condoms? That's all BS.

"I've met Gene Ross a few times. He likes to come watch [porn being made]. He likes to rap with the girls and try to get a blow job. I've got a few girls who will swear to that but they don't want to be mentioned because AVN can ruin their name.

[On Wednesday at 2PM, Luke decided to do something unusual. Before publishing something about Gene Ross, Luke decided to call Gene and get his view, which is coming up. In short, Gene finds Rob's charges hysterically funny.]

Rob: "Gene called me up one day [April, 1998?], 'Rob, did you know that so-and-so got AIDS?' I say no. Why? Gene says 'Jim South and I are really close and I just called him up and he told me that he couldn't tell me. So I told him to go f--- himself.' This was a fight between Gene Ross and Jim South. Gene Ross told Jim South 'to go f--- himself' because Jim wouldn't give Gene who had AIDS. Jim doesn't have to tell everybody but Gene thinks that because he works for AVN, he should know.

"So that's why I started dealing with Gene. I told him I wanted to do an interview about the AIDS thing. He came here at a John Bone shoot [a gang bang competition in late April, 1998?] trying to get a blow job. I caught Gene jerking off in the bathroom.

"So I called up Gene Ross and asked him when are we going to do the interview. And Gene said, 'Rob, I'd love to do it, especially to get back at Jim South because he's a scum bag, but there's politics involved and they don't want to do it.'

"So I said fine, I will go do what I have to do. I will call the Health Department and I will take care of this AIDS problem with the real world.

"Five minutes later he calls back. 'Rob, you don't know what you said. You'll close the whole industry down. They decided that it would be better to do an interview with you. How about next Wednesday?'

"I had eight people waiting… James DiGiorgio, Dexter from Fat Dog. I wait and wait and finally call him. 'Oh Rob, I thought you were coming here.'

"So I went with Matt Jade and Jim… We talked for three hours. He brought up your [Luke F-rd] name. How he can't stand you. You're backed by someone in Australia. You're not a good journalist. You just write what people tell you.

"This magazine [AVN] will write up every little thing. If a girl gets beat up by her boyfriend, they'll write it. This was five months ago [late April, 1998]. Every month I call him up and Gene says, 'Oh Rob, it's a big story. It's going to take time.'

"I talked Dr. Bonura into lowering the PCR DNA price to $80. Last month I called up AVN to place a small announcement that the North Hollywood clinic lowered the price to $80. Gene says no problem. The AVN came yesterday. Every month they're talking about Sharon Mitchell and AIM and that Free Speech has nothing to do with it. That's a lie. I'm going to show you right here what it says."

Here are excerpts from Gene Ross's article on AIM in the 11/98 AVN, part of an ongoing AVN series on "life with HIV."

Mitchell's monthly nut is something like 10 grand, and one of her jobs as A.I.M.'s director is to come up with insightful ways to make the payments…

To that end, Mitchell lauds organizations like the Free Speech Coalition [donated $8500] and companies like Goalie Entertainment [donated $5,000], VCA [donated $5,000], Metro, Vivid, Elegant Angel, Fallen Angel, All Good Video, Extreme Associates, Shane Enterprises and Exquisite Pleasures for helping her keep afloat.

"Until A.I.M. gets a real solid form of income, it's going to be touch and go for the first six months," Mitchell believes. "I'm nailing, hammering, begging and borrowing, but I'm going for it, and I have a lot of high hopes."

…[F]or a monthly service donation of $150 [VCA among other companies subscribes], A.I.M. will provide video companies with a complete monthly listing of who has been tested.

Physically and emotionally, the new A.I.M. offices are situated a couple of city blocks away from World Modeling on Van Nuys Blvd., but they're light years from the bulls--- which prompted Mitchell to start smoking cigarettes by the carton…

Because World Modeling and A.I.M. shared the same hallway in the same building, whisperings of impropriety, complicity, kickbacks, blood-letting atrocities and other sinister conspiracies were common-place occurrences…

…Mitchell, who doesn't mind telling you that she has single-handedly shoved PCR-DNA down everyone's collective throat, sadly acknowledges that Kimberly Jade, one of the HIV-positive performers, won't return her phone calls…

…Mitchell seems happier than a pig in s---. Marc Wallice is on the verge of becoming her first success story… [S]he and Jeffrey Douglas are working to get Wallice's driver's license back so that he can get around.

***

Rob felt particularly hurt by the article by Tod Hunter on page 76 about the opening of the third industry HIV testing clinic - West Oaks Urgent Care Center in Canoga Park (818-709-5700). Rob's North Hollywood Clinic gets only one sentence at the bottom: "The Santa Nancy Medical Clinic, at 12910 Victory, near Coldwater Canyon Boulevard, is also offering PCR-DNA tests for $85."

Rob: "I called Gene and told him, 'last month I said we were lowering the price to $80.' And Gene said, 'Rob, the magazine is printed months ahead of time.' What are you talking about? This clinic just opened up and you promote it.

"Gene: 'Rob, why are you busting my balls?' And I was very nice yet he kept repeating 'Rob, why are you busting my balls?' If I was there, I would've loved to rip his f---ing toupee, his ugly rug, right off his head.

"He's jealous of you [Luke]. He can't write. If he was a real writer, he wouldn't be at AVN. He'd be in the real world. He's just another guy who wants to be around the porn industry to get his dick sucked. I think he's a fag. He's always checking me out. He's got the worst toupee.

"Finally, I told him 'you're a f---ing cunt,' and I hung up on him. He didn't have the balls to tell me that he couldn't write the article.

"So now Luke, you and I are going on the talk shows. We're going to tell them how they tried to hide the AIDS problem. We're going to fly to New York to do the Howard Stern show. We're going to do Jerry Springer… Forget the money and forget the agency [Star World Modeling]. We are going to f--- this Free Speech, Sharon Mitchell….The North Hollywood Clinic is doing more testing than the other three clinics put together because everyone knows that they are honest. Dr. Bonura is a friend of mine. He don't care about the money.

"If we have to close the modeling agency down to f--- up the industry, that is what we have to do. They can all suck my dick. AVN says I am in the mafia. There is no mafia. If they have a problem, they can come over here. I'm afraid of not one of them. There's no such thing as the Mafia. I don't know what the Mafia is, but I do know that if they have a problem, they can bring it right f---ing here and I'll show them a problem. I ain't kissing nobody's ass and I don't have to be a nice guy no more, and I'm going to f--- up this whole industry.

"This Gene Ross is only allowed to write what he's told to write. They'll be crying tomorrow that I called him a cunt. He used to hang around here because he was friends with Mitch Spinelli. He was trying to get into Buffy's pants. I caught him back then jerking off in the bathroom. When I first met him. I walked in the bathroom and caught him. I said, 'what are you doing?' Jerking off in the open. He's a pervert loser.

"Russ Hampshire said he has nothing to do with AIM. Well, right here in AVN, it tells you that VCA, FSC funds AIM. Russ told me not to talk to you. They are all afraid of you Luke because you print the truth.

"Luke, listen to this tape. Make sure you don't make no mistakes. Put it all in order. I didn't threaten anybody.

"Remember that Free Speech meeting [4/13/98?] when they said that if you don't go condom, we won't buy your product. That was against the law what they did. Their own lawyer Jeffrey Douglas wanted nothing to do with that. He seems like a nice guy. But these other guys telling us to use condoms… Suck my dick!

"Luke, you were in my office when I called the Jerry Springer show. And MTV and LA Weekly. We're going on there with you and some of the girls that got AIDS. Luke, you go ahead and make it up. Whatever you need. Do it right."

On Thursday, 10/22/98, Rob Spallone flew up to San Francisco with his boy toy Wayne Crews to meet David Sturman and show him Rob's new movie (directed by James DiGiorgio) Shooting Sex (which I wrote about a month ago). Rob and Wayne spent the night at a motel near Pier 39, costing over $200 for one evening ($1000 for the total trip says Rob including air fare), but Rob and Wayne say it was worth it.

Luke heard that David Sturman was disappointed with the sex in the video.

Rob: "Luke, put your tape on. I sold a movie to Sin City. Your part was great. We all laughed. David joked about it but I'm not sure he was happy about you giving yourself such a big plug. You said "Luke F-rd dot com" about five times.

"David is a young good looking guy. He looks like you Luke. He's about 35 [years old].

"David is a great guy. He's got some company… He's probably the only honest guy in this whole business. And probably the only guy who makes money. These other guys are all full of s---. This one tells me not to talk to you… David don't care [that Rob talks to Luke]. David was straight up [he had an erection while talking to Rob?]. Sin City is the f---ing company in this business…

"We were trying to make this transsexual bondage movie with Oliver…but the she-hes did not show up… So Saturday night we're over at James DiGiorgio's pad. And we meet this drunk lady in her 50s. And I asked her if she wanted to beat up Oliver for me in a movie. So, we're trying to talk her into it, after talking for ten minutes, she turns around and smacked Oliver so hard in the face… We thought he was either going to cry or kill her. We were all laughing.

"And I pulled out my wallet, took out $400, tore it in half, and gave her half the bills. 'You can have the other half if you come back to my studio and we'll film it right now.'

"She says, 'ok. I don't want nobody to see my face. I want a mask. I want to stop by my house and get my girdle.' She was an old broad. Jim and Matt go with her to her house. Me and Wayne fly back to Star World to set up a bondage scene (in ten minutes). They stopped at the liquor store to get Tequila. She was bombed.

"The dead guy [Dave, Rob's mechanic who lived on the premises at Star World] came walking out. I said, 'Dave, do me a favor. Put on this teddy and these high heels and I'll give you ten bucks. He says, get out of here. I said, I'll give you $12. He says ok.

"I told him, all I want you to do is stand in the scene and brush your teeth. It turned out that the lady was so drunk that all she could do was stick her tongue and scream and hit Oliver. She wouldn't listen. We had Dave in a coffin. So I said, Dave, come out and tell her what to do. Dave was a f---ing professional.

"I came in my office and looked in the monitor. They looked like ghosts. I start laughing so hard that I ran out in the parking lot and threw up. I bring Matt and Jim in here and they see it through the monitor and start laughing. They get the camera and film it. It's the f---ing sickest tape you'll ever see in your life.

"In three hours of taping we got 14 minutes of footage. I'll never be able to use it. The third time she fell down, I said, that's it, I want to go home. I stole her pocket book and stole my money back."

Rob, Joe, Wayne, Matt and I sit in the sun. Rob's dog BJ gnaws on a bone. "That's a human leg," says Rob. "You think that guy ain't hobbling?"

Rob arranges for me to pick up copies of Shooting Sex from the editor Weasel at Sin City. Rob suggests I call Russ Hampshire to tell him that Rob has gone off on him and the FSC.

I call Russ from Rob's phone and humbly ask him if I can stop by to take pictures of him and VCA. "I understand," says Russ. "You want legitimacy."

He says I can come over so long as I don't snoop.

I stop by Sharon Mitchell's AIM to take some pictures (Jed the Fish from KROQ radio is watching the MTV documentary on an AIM tv in the waiting room) before arriving at one PM at VCA to seek emotional and professional validation by taking pics of Russ and his company.

Hampshire spends the next hour with me, which, considering his 100 employees and his numerous reasons to loathe me, makes me feel warmly towards myself.

Russ wants gonzo shooters. He may spin off another company to just shoot gonzo. Chloe and Alex Sanders (Shadow Dancers) shoot new lines for him.

I play Russ sections of Rob's interview. He calls Rob and lets him know that just because VCA donated money to AIM does not mean that Russ runs AIM or tells the AIM doctors how to make their diagnoses.

Russ employs a person to simply keep track of performer IDs (going back over ten years) and HIV tests (about seven years).

Mike Ross says it is against the law for employers like VCA to require HIV tests for employment.

"When they first started this law about requiring two sets of IDs," says Russ, "I'd been doing that for years. I probably have more IDs than anybody around. People get IDs from me [other porn companies have asked Russ for copies of talent IDs]."

Russ pays payroll tax for anyone who works for VCA, an added 18% expense burden. Most companies treat porn talent and crew as independent contractors.

At two PM, I stopped by Sin City, which employs about 25 persons. They want to expand. Head of production Chuck Martino says that instead of giving directors $20-$30,000 to shoot a video, the company now has him pay talent and crew directly and give the director a fee. Sometimes a director would receive $30,000 to shoot a movie, only spend $20,000 on it and pocket $10,000.

I talk to Rob by phone Wednesday. "Luke, you f---ing scumbag. Why did you play my interview to Russ? I told you not to do that.

"Listen, I want you to write this.

Rob respects Russ. "He calls me up when he has something to say to me, instead of badmouthing me behind my back.

"When PAW and FSC decided to make the PCR DNA the industry standard HIV test, they [FSC & PAW] said they would pay for everyone's first PCR test. So I sent people like Herschel Savage over to PAW, and they made them join the Free Speech Coalition for $50 to get their free test. Then they said that people could get their first PCR test at the North Hollywood Clinic and that they would pay. So North Hollywood faxed over to PAW the bills. Sharon Mitchell paid the first few and then stopped paying. So I told this to Russ and he said, 'no problem. Fax over the bills and I will take care of it.' So Russ is an honorable man."

Luke "If Rob didn't talk to me I'd be f---ed" Ford, the "Internet's DeTorquemada" in the words of AVN's Gene Ross, called Gene at 2PM Wednesday to apply the screw's of Luke F-rd dot com's infamous torture machine to his AVN adversary.

Regular readers will remember that a few weeks ago Luke conceived in a heavenly vision that Gene Ross had a financial interest in Cream Entertainment. Now Luke needs to know if Gene has a sexual interest in Rob Spallone.

Gene: "Rob Spallone came in a few months ago and most of it was a strong diatribe against Jim South and the business. Essentially, Rob believes that everybody has entered into this conspiracy to cover up the fact that more people have HIV than is being reported. What I'm trying to do with the series ["Living With HIV"] in our magazine was to look at some of the positive aspects of what the industry is trying to do in light of this situation and try to do something on behalf of performers. What Rob is trying to get me to write is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the series.

"So he called me a couple of weeks ago and said, 'I'm going to be talking to 20-20 [ABC TV program]. When they come in, I want you to do a story. So I thought, this might be a twist I could write about. Anyway, the call never came. Maybe he never did the interview. Anyway he calls me Monday and says 'they [AVN] didn't run it.' Well, they is me. I write these articles. I said, 'Rob, I have a bunch of stuff on the docket to run. Maybe I'll get around to it.' Then he starts screaming to me about an article attributed to Todd Hunter in the magazine. Well, I don't have to answer to anybody about the editorial policy of AVN. I choose to write the articles I want to write when I want to write them. So he starts screaming at me, then he starts calling me a 'f---ing cunt,' at which time I hung up on him.

"A few minutes later, I get a call from John Bone. [Gene does a great imitation of John's upper class British accent.] John says: 'I just got a call from Rob Spallone and apparently he's going to talk to Luke F-rd and try to destroy you.'

"I said, 'f--- it.' Who gives a f---? Let him, f--- him."

Luke: "Rob says he caught you jerking off."

Gene laughs. "Ok. He's a fabricator of nonsense. He's probably got some wiring crossed the wrong way and he's not accountable for what he's doing.

"The last time I was at Star World was to cover Jasmine's final gangbang. And I was too busy writing about a gangbang to consider jerking off. I've never jerked off to an adult movie."

Luke: "Well, maybe Jasmine's gangbang was so arousing?"

Gene: "That is so ludicrous that it isn't even worth dignifying. The man is showing what little intelligence he possesses by making a quote like that. I am not a 75 year old man who can't fight back [Duke?]. If Mr. Spallone thinks that I have offended him in any way, tell him that I have a 14 page lawsuit that I haven't began to think about writing. I was doing him a favor by bypassing this but now I think I will pay some attention to the legal problems he faces in a court of law."

Luke: "Did you call Rob Spallone and tell him that you'd told Jim South to f--- off?"

Gene: "I have never ever picked up the phone to volunteer to call Rob Spallone. Never.

"Jim South and I have never had a harsh word. What happened was, I called Jim and asked him about a list and he got upset about it… Jim, we're part of the press and we're trying to help you here. He was under the gun and he didn't want to deal with it…

"Our magazine is not in the business of trying to rile people, create intense controversy… We're a trade magazine to parley information to the video stores. We're not trying to be Time magazine. We try to report on things as honestly as we can and get as many sides of the story. We don't try to stir up pots and screw people over."

Luke: "That's my end of it."

Gene: "I will leave it up to you. You do a very good job of it."

Luke: "Thanks Gene."

Gene: "I think this is hysterical. I emailed you that time about suing you [over the Gene Ross have a financial interest in Cream Entertainment] but I will tell you something… He is bordering on slander. He better have a good lawyer. It is one thing to be told that Gene Ross has a financial interest in Cream Entertainment and not knowing any better you might assume that might have some substance. But this thing… That I called him and told him this or that… That's horses---. I have never jerked off to an adult movie let alone real time on an adult shoot.

"Most people (at an adult shoot) are afraid to approach me because they think that I am this dour menacing figure and people keep their distance. I find that amusing and I play up to that (wrestling) image."

Luke: "Did you try to get into Buffy's pants on a Mitch Spinelli shoot?"

Gene: "I know Buffy. She's retired and a mother. Ohmigod…. I found hilarious your ongoing dialogue with Margold about my so-called affairs in this business. I don't date women in this business. Kim Chambers was the only woman that I ever dated.""

Luke [appalled that he may have run unchecked and inaccurate rumors]: "Margold told me that you had done a whole string of them."

Gene: "Where is Margold privy to my sex life. I'm alleged to have romanced Taylor Wane. She lived in the same apartment complex I did about seven years ago. So ergo, I was dating her."

Luke: "Do you and Bill Margold pick up porn girls together?"

Gene: "I wouldn't even try to compete with Bill. He's the man. I defer to Margold. He's so slick and smooth. I would just falter in comparison. I would only be the anchor around his neck if we were trying to do a twosome and pick up women.

"Taylor Wane and I went to lunch a couple of times and that was it."

Luke: "You weren't buffing Taylor Wane?"

Gene: "I hate to blow the image…but no. I'd see her by the pool and shoot the s--- and that was it.

"I was warned against [dating porn girls]. I had so many friends say, 'don't get involved with a girl from the business.'

"I found her [Chambers] interesting and intelligent for her age… It was weird and bizarre. We never really got engaged."

Luke: "I find it hard to believe that you've never jerked off to an adult movie. I jerk off…"

Gene: "I watch this stuff for a living. I may have to watch 15-20 movies in a row here at the office. When you have a deadline, you don't have time to get excited about them. I have never gotten emotionally involved with a girl in this business or a video in this business."

Luke: "I'd be nothing without Rob. He gives me the best stuff."

Gene: "He's the man. How was your vacation in Bimini, that didn't last too long?"

Luke: "I had to rush back because I heard you were a f---ing cunt. Is it true that you are jealous of Luke F-rd?"

Gene: "Luke, I'm jealous of your youth."

Luke: "Rob thinks that you've been eyeing him. He thinks you might be gay."

Gene: "Here is my type - I like women with long blonde hair, between 5'8" and 5'10" and are big boned and athletic. Now if Rob Spallone fits that description, then I have been eyeing him."

Luke: "I'm out of incendiary things to ask."

Rob phoned at 3:40PM, 10/28/98. "I just got off the phone with Paul Fishbein. You told me Luke that Gene Ross told you that he couldn't print the article because AVN don't want to write anything negative. True or false?"

Luke: "True."

Rob: "I just told this to Paul Fishbein. He said you go to Luke F-rd. I said, 'Let me tell you something. Luke F-rd had it on tape. I just listened to the tape. Don't tell me that I'm lying.' He [Paul] was just trying to stick up for Gene Ross. And I told him that Luke just spoke to Gene and Gene told him this. I want you [Luke] to print in that article that Rob has no problem with AVN. Rob has a problem with Gene Ross being a cunt and not being able to tell me that he wouldn't print the article and he's been telling me that it takes a few months, it takes time, it's a big article, and in two seconds he told you [Luke] that he can't print it because AVN doesn't like to print anything negative. Paul Fishbein does not believe he said that.

"I told Paul: 'Listen, I have nothing against you. I don't know you.' Then he [Paul] went off, that I [Rob] stick up for Luke F-rd. I said 'Luke F-rd is the best thing that ever happened to the industry.' He's going to get to the bottom of things and call me back tomorrow. I have nothing against AVN… Any questions Luke, you beep me. We're going to kill them tomorrow buddy. Me and Luke."

Luke: "Ok buddy."