I hear that Rob Black screamed at Paul Fishbein, Gene Ross and sales manager Jennifer Rosenblatt earlier this week about his lack of nominations. Things have now calmed down between Rob and Paul.
I also hear that Rob Black offered VCA director Michael Ninn $250,000 to shoot for Extreme Associates. Ninn turned him down. Black has frequently dissed Ninn, especially in a Screw interview.
12:30PM. Jeff Steward
of Legend phones to say that he completely supports Max Hardcore's dismissive
view of AVN. "We feel that AVN has been dogging us since last year's
show when Max
confronted Paul," says Steward, who owns JM Productions. "AVN has never
recognized Max. This year Max received no nominations. It's a slap in
the face. We support Max 100%. I guess people there don't like him.
I guess it's a punishment for his incident with Paul. They don't want
to support that type of filth."
Luke: "Do you think the AVN Awards are legitimate?"
Jeff: "No. I think it's
important to advertise there but the reviews don't mean much. They come
out three months after the product is released. Do awards help sales?
I don't know, we've only won one,
for The Violation of Missy, and it made no difference to sales. But
is nice to be recognized."
At 10AM Friday, I called Randy Kaplan aka Rich C. Leather, who wrote for AVN for about six years, supposedly served part of that time as office manager, and was supposedly fired by Bryn Prior.
"Hi, I'm Luke F-rd," I introduce myself. "I write on adult entertainment."
Randy: "Why on God's green earth would you think that I would talk to you? You and I are not cut from the same cloth. I know your reputation. You heard that I had left AVN and you are looking for some dirt. Well, I'm not going to give it to you."
Randy then hung up.
Deep Throat said 12/10/98:
Mark Stone rules the
AVN Awards show with an iron hand [Mark and Paul would say this is ridiculous].
"Paul Fishbein wimps out every time Mark opens his mouth," says a former
Moonlight
employee. "Mark believes that the louder you bellow, the more people
listen. He has kept the AVN show at amateur level, fearing that really
talented acts would show him up."
Fishbein replies: "The Mark Stone comments are flat out stupid. It's the AVN show and we run it. Until the market can support a live pay per view event, the income streams are limited if you want to put on a quality event. So we do as much as we can on a tiny budget (compared to the real world)."
Throat: "One theory widely discussed in the adult industry in the wake of the scandalous AVN’s attacks on Luke F-rd’s site is whether AVN publisher Paul Fishbein himself has been the mastermind behind the scenario. "Paul’s a f---ing genius," writes Gloria Leonard to Luke. Leonard’s comment would certainly support the speculation that Fishbein is doing it. One, for the publicity to help show ticket sales for the January event. Two, to bring the hammer down on Rob Black, the adult industry’s redheaded stepchild and teach him a lesson on behalf of VCA. And three, set up AVN for the big sell-out, thus leaving the company with a mountain of debt and Fishbein walking away scott free to greener pastures in the mainstream. "Rob Black has comments on everything and generally puts his foot in his mouth," says a VCA insider. "Paul knows this and figures that Rob will respond to all the web site postings and make a public spectacle of himself, thus consolidating sympathetic support for Fishbein. Fishbein is systematically baiting Rob into a lose-lose situation, such as drawing Black into making abusive comments, as in the planted Rob Black – Max Hardcore distribution story. Rob’s going to wind up the fall guy. It’s brilliant. Paul has been getting Luke F-rd to do his dirty work for him. Is Fishbein Deep Throat? If so, members of the current AVN editorial staff are in for a big surprise. Fishbein and Roberts are Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the movie The Producers. Only Roberts is one step ahead of Fishbein." Dumb Barzini emails Luke: "It was Fishbein all along."
Tessio writes: "The s--- has just begun. December 30th will be a day that lives in AVN infamy. The countdown begins."
Paul Fishbein replies: "Luke, consider this new theory and how nutty it sounds. Do I seem like the type of person to mastermind such a scenario. Rob Black and I spoke yesterday [Thursday]. We're fine. If he's still angry, that's OK. I'm not baiting Rob. Do you feel I'm using you to do my dirty work?
"Tessio says he's my friend. Tell him I need to know what's happening on December 30, other than me having to pay my taxes."
Clemenza writes: "The
reason that Gene Ross can brag about sleeping with over 600 women is
that Jim South has been supplying him with girls for years. Ross has
been South’s bulletproof vest and
protects him whenever the agent comes under fire. Rob Spallone was right.
Ross covered up for South in the HIV scandal. Spallone should’ve sent
Ross some girls. Ross is one sick dude who not only keeps a scoreboard
but a hidden surveillance camera in his living room and tapes girls
without them knowing it." [Gene Ross found this accusation hilarious
and my interview with him runs below.]
Deep Throat: "A breaking
story says that it was Michael Jordan’s attorneys who pulled the plug
on the AVN consumer publication Sexpose. Contrary to the account offered
by Ross in his recent interview with Luke, Jordan’s attorneys, riled
over the story that described Jordan bedding down with Sexpose’s cupcake
editor Kylie Ireland, were going to sue for mega-bucks but Paul Fishbein
agreed to discontinue the magazine as a compromise. Though Fishbein
and Ireland actively promoted the story through a series of radio appearances,
the Ireland-Jordan scandal blew up in Fishbein’s face, resulting in
Ireland being ostracized from the adult video community and Fishbein
relinquishing Sexpose. Another sex scandal is about to break, linking
AVN’s XXX with Mocca, a
contract girl with Video Team."
Paul Fishbein: "For the dope that made the Michael Jordan story up, we hired a private detective to corrooborate Irelan'd story, then a top libel attorney to keep us out of trouble. Jordan's attorneys threatened because we called Jordan for comment. The story ran and we never heard from them again because it was true. We NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN! We NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN! How many times do I have to repeat. Sexpose was underfinanced and it wasn't selling well so we disbanded it, on our own.
"XXX denies the Mocha lie."
Deep Throat: "Ten Questions that Paul Fishbein can’t answer (the first in a series):
1.XXX [Luke pulled the
plug on several questions until he can find more evidence for them than
just Deep Throat's say so.]
2.In your interview with Luke F-rd, you said there was a ton of Max
Hardcore stuff on the pre-nominations in different categories. Can we
see those nominations? Exactly what were they?
Paul: " Max could have
been nominated for several sex scenes, including his infamous scene
with Marilyn Star and Best Series for Max World. Perhaps, but he never
sent the tapes in so the staff could not look at them."
3.XXX
4.XXX
5.What is Darren Roberts connection with the Skinflix video line?
Paul: "Darren Roberts has no connections to the Skinflicks line. When his wife left Xcel, she teamed with Anita Rinaldi (who produced Planet Sexx) to form the company that will be releasing Planet Sexx 2. Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, look at the movie and read the reviews in other magazines (Hustler, Adam Film World, etc) and not AVN. Otherwise, feel free to come up with some new conspiracy theories."
6. How much did you and Steve Hirsch rake in together with your video store partnerships before you realized 18 months later that it may have looked like a conflict of interest?
Paul: "I don't know why I feel the need to answer this but when I got out of those stores, AVN took about a $70,000 loss. That's how much I made, approximately minus $70,000. Do you think one of these 50/50 stores without peeps or novelties (when I was involved, all we sold was video) makes that much money in L.A.?
7.You said you weren’t covering it up, but were researching the Elegant Angel story about the $5 million dollars lawsuit being filed against Elegant. The story first broke in July. Does it usually take six months to research a simple story that takes a couple of phone calls?
Paul: "The Elegant Angel story will run when we're good and ready. So go f--- yourself."
8.Would you openly invite an independent audit of video distribution sales figures against those reported on the AVN sales charts?
Paul: "Guess what? I've been saying for years that the sales charts are seriously seriously flawed. We depend on wholesale distributors who often just give us information off the tops of their heads. I've been considering getting rid of them altogether but the companies still want it. I've asked for suggestions on how to do it scientifically but business doesn't allow for it. So yes, please, find an indepndent auditor to research this and take the burden away. On the other hand, the rental charts are derived from computer reports from retailers so they are much more accurate."
9.May we see all the market research data that supports the adult industry charts found in the AVN Entertainment Guide?
Paul: "The market research comes from thousands of surveys returned from retailers to outr offices. If anyone want to come in and look at some of these surveys, the answet is yes....here in my office. I will not let these out of my sight because they contain and the names addresses and phone numbers of retailers and they help comprise our effective mailing list. But you can come peruse. In fact, Tessio, why don't you come and look at the stuff and the ballots from the awards show. Call me and come in, say before December 30. But you must reveal yourself first."
10. Is the reason that you fired Yoram Dohan that he was working a deal with Private that you were trying to work for yourself and he stepped on your toes?
Paul: "Yes I fired Yoram because he was secretly trying to work a deal to start a magazine behind my back with Private and was trying to round up support from our advertisers on AVN time. He was sneaky, but forgot the loyalty that the customers had to me so they sold him out immediately. I asked him to sign a non-compete agreement which would have gone with a lucrative employment agreement. He refused, I had the goods on him and I fired him. However, I had no deal with Private, none was discussed and none are on the table."
Rodger Jacobs aka Martin
Brimmer edits New Rave and Dirty for Yoram Dohan. Rodger: "With regards
to Rob Black's remarks yesterday that he "heard Yoram Dahan" is trying
to set up a publication to rival A.V.N. I can only say the following:
as editor of New Rave and Dirty since May of this year I have heard
nothing to this effect. In fact, since taking over the reigns at New
Rave and Dirty the magazine has began to increase in visibility and
viability within the adult entertainment industry. We now regularly
receive requests on a daily basis from production companies and porn
stars looking for publicity: this did not occur very often until I came
along and instituted some changes in editorial policy. Advertising in
the magazines has also increased. New Rave and Dirty have found new
respect within the adult community. What I'm saying, in short, is that
Yoram's publications are already in a position to be offered as an alternative
to A.V.N."
Gene Ross phoned at 10:35 AM. "Did Jordan’s lawyers get involved with Sexpose? I don’t know. I just know that Paul and Ted Liebowitz pulled the plug on it… I had the impression that Liebowitz wanted to go on with it…
"Paul openly discussed
some things. He had fully expected to get some kind of response from
him [Jordan]… I know that [AVN legal columnist] Clyde DeWitt was called
in on some matters
relative to it…
"I wish Jim South would
send me girls. Who the f--- is coming up with this s---? I keep a scoreboard
[of the number of women he lays]? When I was younger I did, and I might’ve
said that to
somebody… When I was younger, that was a source of humor. I had a counter
where I could flip numbers… I’d bring a woman into my apartment and
she’d say, ‘What’s number 126 mean?’ And I’d
say, ‘it means nothing.’ She’d leave the house the next day and see
number 127… I guess it would never dawn on her. It was always a source
of conversation…"
Gene started laughing
when the topic of his supposed hidden surveillance camera came up. "That’s
a great idea, dammit. I wish I’d thought of that. I could have my own
video line and have a great
old age. The total candid candid camera… I could get women from the
business… I love that."
Luke: "What happened to reviewer Rich C. Leather?"
Gene: "Bryn as the managing
editor deals with the freelance writers. Rich had a bug up his ass.
He was claiming that AVN owed him money… Rich went to the mat with Bryn
in the past regarding a
review…dealt with Santino Lee. I was on the periphery of it, some kind
of tape that Rich reviewed… Santino Lee was upset about something. Bryn
was in the middle of it. That’s all I know… I heard
that Rich Leather held tapes hostage and sent a message saying that
I’m holding these tapes hostage until AVN squares up with money they
owe me for reviews. That got ridiculous. I think Bryn said, ‘I don’t
need this s---. This guy’s controversial… He gets….’ Bryn told him that
you’re service are no longer required. End of story. A few weeks ago.
I had to re-review some of the tapes that he was supposed to have handed
in as a review.
Kendra Jade, after a disastrous showing on the Howard Stern show yesterday caused by the presence of a drunk friend, says she is leaving John Bone.
A month ago Kendra asked to be released from her contract. John granted her wish. He had no comment Friday morning on Jade's departure.
Kendra said Friday morning by phone: "Yesterday I made a pretty bad mistake and went on the Howard Stern show and had a really bad interview because I brought a friend of mine with me who was drunk.
"She's not in the business. Just an old friend of mine. I asked her to come along because it was a four hour drive. So we got there early, about 3AM. And she said, 'let's stop at the bar and have a drink.' I don't drink but she got trashed. I had no choice but to bring her to the show with me because it was New York. I couldn't just drop her off. So she made an ass out of herself in the green room. And they loved it and brought her in. So it turned out to be a mess.
"Then I talked to John
and this is something that happens to me all the time... He screams
at me and calls me an idiot. And says that I've done nothing for my
career and all this stuff. And I feel that I've put an awful lot of
effort towards my career and brought his company hundreds of thousands
of dollars with the Jerry Springer stuff. He's no longer that concerned
with my career anymore. He's
got other things that are more important to him, like having sex. I
can't tolerate that lack of respect towards me anymore.
"John is not a man of
his word. The car that he bought me from the money he made off of me,
he will take back. And I'll have to move out of my house. I shot a scene
for him and in return he was
supposed to pay my rent, which he didn't. So I'm screwed at this point...
Now I'll work for people who won't treat me like s--- and screw me over.
Maybe that naive of me. Maybe everybody does
that."
Mike South writes Thursday:
"Sharon Mitchell called LBO today to whine about my HIV testing proceedures.
I called her back and when she returned my call I pointed out that it
is ridiculous for me to get PCR/DNA tests moreso because the CDC does
NOT recognize the test as a valid HIV test. The reason is that it is
too inaccurate. She decided that my proceedure of ELISA tests are
acceptable. She then informed that our industry is creating new diseases,
like Gonorreaha of the throat, in the past this was unheard of, now
in porn circles it has apparently become fairly common.
Care to guess where it comes from? A2M [ass to mouth] as it is called."
Luke got suckered a week ago according to this email from Joe Tovar (JosephLouis@worldnet.att.net), who says he's the ex-husband of Gina Ryder:
"Gina Ryder did not state any negative remarks regarding talent. She has never given free sex in regards to getting work. She did sleep with TT Boy which was arranged totally by her husband allowing her to have the freedom she deserves. Gina Ryder never gave Jim South oral pleasure in return for work.
"How do I know this? I am her husband. I am the immature, selfish individual who intitiated the whole rumor. I apologize deeply to Jim, TT and most of all Gina. There is no reason for such behavior and I stand here facing up to my ridiculous actions. I have known Gina since she was 18. She is the most sincere, honest, compationate person that I have ever known. I won't brag about her scenes or her ability to act because there is no need to and that is not the capacity that I know Gina in. She loved me dearly and respectfully. I tried to return that committment but failed and in a childish fit of anger and grief I retaliated against the only person that has ever affected my life in a positive manner. Gina is dedicated to humanity and friendship. She is probably the only woman I know that can define love without any regards to sex or acts of sex. I did not have the mentality to separate the two and if I had I would be by her side now enjoying her smile and warmth of heart. She is professional, dedicated and above all HONEST.
"I challenge any director to take the risk in giving her any role in any scripted scene. She will prove to be reliable, pleasant and treat the entire shoot as the business it truly is. There is not a perverted bone in her body and I regret that she gave up 3 years of her life to a man she believed was the "right one" and turned out to be the most opposite of that. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn....Hell did not know Gina. Considering what I have done she kept her cool and continued to acknowledge my existance. I don't write this for pity, for redemption or for a response from Gina. I write this because it is the right thing to do and Gina deserves it. Success should go her way not because she demands it, but because she truly earns it. I only regret that I learned about love and trust from Gina way too late. You have to realize that I could have kept my mouth shut and let this go on. I risked my humiliation in one last selfish attempt to keep a tiny bit of friendship between Gina and myself. That should let everyone know that she must be one hell of a person to want to just be friends with. The only fools out of this scenario are Heaven, her husband and Me. I hope this closes the book on this drama I created. Good Luck Gina!! Love, Joseph"
How did Luke get suckered? Because all the previous information the Gina source gave me was correct. The source batted about 8-8, and so, reluctantly, after phoning around (and emailing) the parties concerned and those who knew them, I eventually ran the nasty accusations.
Brock Leigh: "First
of all to Gina I am sorry for the s--- I said I was only defending my
wife and other friends I have in this business. Now to your ex-husband
the only FOOL is you I only defended the women I love and if anyone
writes s--- about her then yes I am going to speak up.You are a "SICK
f---"to even post something like that. No matter what happens between
me and my wife I would not even think about tring to ruin my wife's
life like that.Not only did I speak out I have talked to a lot of women
in the business that did not take to kindly to it either but just didn't
say anything about it.You have taken this to far when you said that
she was calling women in this business "dumb bitches" you started a
lot of bad feelings towards her not just from me and Heaven but from
other women in the business that she has to work with. It's too bad
that you did not just walk away and leave all this behind you, but no
you had to start s--- with her and say s--- about her to get other people
fired up against her. So the only FOOL is you not only did you hurt
her with words you have upset allot of people because of your lies!!!"
Joe Tovar replies: "My only response to Brock is that you are correct. It was a sick thing to do. You are no fool now that you admit sorrow for the remarks. It takes a man to admit fault. You stood by your wife and educated me on what would have been the noble thing to do myself. Enough. Let it go. I am now back under the rock I crawled out from and the only thing important is that the truth is out. Gina Ryder is no one's enemy. If anything I am the only enemy she has and I concede to my own faults. Now let success rise and dreams come true. Foolish games are through. The sooner this ends the faster people heal."
Brock Leigh: "If you
want proof about how AVN is hand picked, talk to me. Heaven is running
away with the Best Performer voted by the fans (at www.rogreviews.com)
not some paid employee of AVN. So please tell me how they over looked
her. Also Trudy, Rebs ex secretary is now living with me and Heaven.
She had no place to go so we are going to help her out. Timber is also
out with Reb and I will also being helping her when CES is over and
she returns to Indiana."
Pat Riley, a vehement
AVN critic and the recipient of many a bashing from the trade magazine,
writes: "The key to "fixing" the awards is not some mechanical counting
discrepancy--Fishbein is
not that stupid--it's in the people he employs and the atmosphere he
maintains. I'm sure anyone who comes out and makes statements about
such and such a company producing crap doesn't get invited back again
especially if that company happens to be on Fishbein's "support this
guy" list. That doesn't mean he's so blatant as to say "Give Wicked
good reviews or you're fired"; as with most of these things it's just
a gentle nudge in the "right" direction.
"And he does censor the reviewers. Even Holliday and Margold say that they're not permitted to criticize the people by name (yourself excepted) and certainly describing them in any manner approaching the Rileyesque "This is an ugly pig" is immediately suppressed. I remember one review of an MDD tape where the reviewer slipped in something about Ed being ugly/too old and the next month they printed a retraction.
"I suspect too that
the stars/A's are put on by a committee not the individual reviewer.
You often see reviews where the text says something like "Good for filler,
but only the desperate would rent
this tape" but the tape gets three stars. This is important because
in my experience lots of stores can't be bothered reading the actual
text (I suspect literacy is a problem <g>) so they just select "All
tapes three stars and up" or something like that. Not that I'm suggesting
that stores make lots of these type of decisions (they've bought or
not bought the tape by the time the review comes out) but there is some
effect."
Deep Throat says: "Sure
Pat Riley is a vehement critic of AVN. He has good reason for it aside
from them trashing his books. Jim Holliday will tell you all about it.
AVN wouldn't hire Riley because
Pat hates women with a passion. To him every woman's a whore. This is
a broken man with a dick the size of a pencil erasor. This is one time
you can't fault AVN's judgement. For someone's who's
never sat foot in the adult business, Riley certainly has lots of opinions
about it. And they are all wrong."
Clemenza writes: "Paul Fishbein, I'm looking forward to meeting you at Russ Hampshire's Christmas party. I'll be shaking your hand at some time during the evening."
Russ, the industry's token WASP, says he is not having a Christmas party.
Vivid contract boy Julian stars in the gay movie Hard To Swallow, which features on page 140 of the AVN 1999 Entertainment Guide.