Thursday, December 10, 1998

"This is only the tip of the iceberg," spoke Deep Throat to Luke Wednesday evening. "I am going to make you the most powerful journalist in the industry. There isn’t going to be an office in the industry that isn’t tuned to your web site, reloading every ten minutes. You are the right man at the right time at the right place."

Deep Throat (some consortium of anti-AVN, Vivid and VCA forces) says:

A powerful East Coast consortium is rumored to be gearing up with a magazine designed to go head-to-head with AVN sometime in 1999. One of the principals involved is supposed to have deep pockets and is very upset with the way he’s been treated by AVN in the past. The same deal was also rumored two years ago but it is now being given credence because a current AVN employee is said to be involved. Members of the group met secretly in Florida this past October.

AVN’s Paul Fishbein, sensing the Luke F-rd series of exposes are getting out of hand, is making frantic phone calls around the industry to find an individual to counter-attack Luke F-rd on AVN’s web site. Fishbein is attempting to take the fight to Luke F-rd.

An email to Luke from Tessio: "To Paul Fishbein. You’re calling me a gutless coward who won’t identify myself. Let me say this: I’m a FOXE fan and I’m in the position to know more things than the average person in this industry. I know who’s f---ing who. I make it my business to know. And my real identity will become apparent soon enough because I will give you enough clues. Remember Julius Caesar and the Ides of March. Et tu Darren."

FOXE president Bill Margold, are you Deep Throat?

An email to Luke from Clemenza: "Looks like they’ve let Rob Black’s ex-girlfriend Nikki near the wine bottle again. This is what happens when you let a dumb broad have her say in the company of adults. Nikki, in her email, tells you that she was in a know-all position at Elegant Angel. Yeah, right. Lucas, sweetheart, baby, bubbele, please inform her that Fishbein was out to get her boyfriend from the start but was double-crossed by Gene Ross and company. That’s why Ross is doing penance in the warehouse. No matter what Fishbein says. Think of the whole warehouse episode as the crucifiction and Darren Roberts as Pontius Pilot.

"Who does Nikki think cut her boyfriend out of the Playboy airing? It was Fishbein at the urging of Russ Hamp-SHIRE and his henchmen Jack Gallagher [head of Babenet, a company that Russ says he has a financial interest in]. Rob shouldn’t have made all those cracks about Russ. Rob, you are my hero. You had Russ on the ropes. You had him dead-to-rights and then you let him off the hook and sent him roses. What are you? Some kind of f---ing faggot? I bet Fishbein and Hamp-SHIRE are kicking their heels with their TKO over you. Roses?"

An email from L. Zorro to Luke: "So AVN managing editor Bryn Pryor never f---ed Chloe. Pryor is saying all this to have some dignity. Chloe dropped him once her career started taking off, thanks in great part to his efforts." [Luke knows of no hard evidence of this report, and in the absence of that, he believes Bryn's wistful denial.]

Max Hardcore may be on the outs with his distributor Legend because of his criticisms of AVN on this site.

"Sorry, I couldn't answer your phone call," said Max at 8 PM, Wednesday. "I was f---ing these two whores.

"[Regarding the question] I deny that I ever had sex with that girl... Sometimes I can't understand what the f--- you're saying," said Max.

Luke: "It's because I've got that funny Australian accent. Is Legend giving you pressure over your AVN comments?"

Max: "You wanna talk about pressure, Luke? I'll tell you about pressure. I'll tell you about getting your f---ing head squeezed between a couple of leaded thighs. Luke, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I'm on top, I'm number one and anyone who wants to f--- me up, go ahead.

"I love Paul Fishbein. He's not a problem. The problem is that he is unleashed a juggernaut that is beyond his control. Things have spun out of his control. I would never want to do any harm to him. I wouldn't harm anybody.

"Everybody has their own opinion on what constitutes hard sex. But I always thought that a good hard cock in a pretty little whore and some good piston pumping action constitute, without a lot of dialogue, a hot scene.

"Paul has a whole organization that he has to deal with. I pity the dude, I really do. But fortunately I've got all these hot girls to f--- over and over again. We get top girls to shoot unbelievable scenes. And guys know that they've seen them [girls] in other movies and it's been, as you say in Australia, a complete yawner. We do amazing things with these girls."

Luke: "Do Vivid and VCA give you any hassle?"

Max: "These guys don't have time to bother anybody. They don't have time to organize their own distribution deals, how can they possibly mess with anyone else's deals? They don't have time for that s--- and they don't care. I'm friends with all these guys. They don't care. They're too busy dealing with too many phone calls each day...

"I've got a hot scoop for you. I'm going to f--- our first Asian whore in a long time tomorrow [Thursday]. What interests people? Talk about the new Asian flesh we'll be working over tomorrow."

Wednesday evening Luke read to Rob Black a report that he was making a distribution deal with Max Hardcore. "Luke, that's some funny s---," said Rob. "I hate that cocksucker. I hate that drunk motherf---er. I will stake my family, may the Lord Jesus Christ strike them dead, that will never ever happen in a million years.

"Somebody told me that Yoram from New Rave will set up a competitor to AVN. I'd be one of his first advertisers.

"The story that they [the Gene Ross led AVN editorial staff] double crossed Paul last year to give me my awards is exactly right. Everybody was punished. They're all in the warehouse now and Darren Roberts is their boss. That is the truth.

"Paul Fishbein cut me out of the Awards show [video that is sold by VCA]. He cut me out of the Playboy [airing on cable TV]. Paul don't like me. His staff f---ed Paul.

"I beat Russ with my lawyer. He's not using Extreme. I told you on the internet that when I learned he'd no longer use VCA Extreme, I'd send him a dozen roses. Just like 18 months ago I sent my uncle [Chuck Zane] a dozen black stemmed roses. I had them dipped in black. Signifies death. To my uncle - How are you doing? I'm still here. That was also a f----you. So who won? I won.

"Russell told me to my face that he had me cut out of the awards show [1998 tape]. 'Because you said all that s--- about me. I was not going to put that out through my label, you saying all that.'

"At the 1998 awards show, I thanked Russell for firing me. I used to work at Plush in 1996 [located in Russ's building]. The first movie that Rob ever did [The Cellar Dwellers] was to be distributed out of Russ's building."

Luke: "Russ says he just has a financial interest in Babenet?"

Rob: "From what I hear, he owns it. Jack Gallagher runs Babenet. Jack owned Plush through his son Mark Gallagher. Jack gave him the money to open Plush. Jack Gallagher is the buyer for Video Warehouse. If you want to get your videos in there, you have to go through Jack. That's why if you go to Warehouse, the only videos you'll see in there are VCA, Vivid... I think Jack owns the mail order company DTY.

"I distributed my company Extreme Video through Plush. I made only one video Tenderloins before Russ got rid of me. I had Cellar Dwellers ready to go out, had the flyers made up, and Russ told me that if I didn't conform, and let him screen everything that I did, that I had to leave. So I went to Elegant Angel."