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Wednesday, January 13, 1999

CES Report

Last Wednesday night (1/6/99) at Rob Spallone's new studio in the Encino Hills, Alec Metro did an impression of Mike Tyson vs. Evander Hollyfield by accidentally biting off a piece of Nancy Vee's pussy during a sex scene. Though much blood spilled, Nancy is ok.

Thursday morning I drove to Rob's home in Pasadena where I met his beautiful wife for the first time. Director James DiGiorgio stopped by at 11AM with his business partner (Blue Light Pictures) Kenny and his friend, the comedian Vinny Mars who appears with me in the forthcoming Sin City Ultra release Shooting Sex. Rob and I climbed in the van and we drove to Vegas.

Rob calls his father Joe on the mobile phone. "Dad, do you want to see Luke in Vegas or shall I stuff him in the desert?"

We stop for a late lunch in Barstow where we met several Sin City employees such as the office manager Sharon, her husband and Ari the duplicator.

Kenny drove above 70 mph most of the way, the high speed whisking away through open windows the cigarette, cigar and marijuana smoke which filled the van. Rob becomes Mr. Mellow after a few tokes on a joint. He won't even say anything bad about Sharon Mitchell.

We arrived at the Riviera just after 3PM and checked in, thanks to Rob Spallone, through the VIP room. This is my first time in Vegas, my first CES, first AVN Awards, and later in the afternoon, my first ride a limo as Rob bought Harley Davidson boots. My buddy Rob Spallone picks up the tab for my whole weekend.

Jim and I arrive at the RAME get together at 6:30 PM. Everyone is amiable. I meet Rob Pipe, Mike South, Brandy Alexandre and others for the first time. Serenity tells me how much she appreciates Wicked director Johnathan Morgan. Most of her best movies have come under him. Up through December, Serenity worked every single day for eight months. Wicked now has four contract girls with the addition of Stephanie Swift.

Feeling claustrophobic, I escape with New Times reporter Peter Gilstrap and his photographer Don (doing a cover story on me for the Los Angeles New Times) to the Sin City White Rabbit party at the Rio. I talk with Scotty Schwartz who now serves as Ed Powers cameraman (past six months).

Tyce Bune arrives with his beautiful busty blonde wife Fabrice who starred with him in his directorial debut (for Seymore Butts), the anal video Beach Bunnies With Big Brown Eyes. Expect at least four more from this series.

"Performing on camera [for the first time] was fun," says Fabrice. "I was not scared. I needed to make sure that the person I worked with was someone I could trust, and I obviously trust my husband [Tyce Bune] of 21 years."

A mainstream actor, Tyce made his porn debut in 1996 in Net Dreams for Elegant Angel. Then Impact and Turnabout (AVN nomination for Best Actor - Video). Bune appeared in about 100 pornos in 1998.

Luke to Fabrice: "How do you feel about your husband working with other women?"

Fabrice: "I'm behind him 100%. I want him to succeed."

Tyce: "I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I've got a beautiful woman who loves the heck out of me."

Fabrice: "I don't get jealous because I have his heart."

Tyce: "It's just a business to me. My wife wants me to get into the production end as soon as possible, which I'm doing."

Wandering around the Sin City party, I encounter 60-year old Dave Cummings fondling 18-year old Samantha Wood. They appear in Dirty Dave's 16, three days after her 18th birthday. "We did two scenes back-to-back and she had my dick hard the whole time.

"You don't know what we had to go through to get her HIV test back. I couldn't talk to her before her 18th birthday 'cause it's illegal."

Director James DiGiorgio says he met half a dozen people at the White Rabbit party who told him that it should've been the "Shooting Sex" party, after the name of Jim's forthcoming video from Sin City Ultra which includes 46 minutes of non-sex.

I hear that an American porner was arrested by French police last summer for drugging Parisian prostitutes.

Spearmint Rhino, I hear, owes AVN $14,000 and Vivid Quest $5000. I met John Gray of Vivid Quest magazine Thursday night and Stacy Shepherd-Cartwright from Adult Video Stars internet magazine. They held a newsconference Thursday to announce a deal.

Michael Morrison, who owns a string of sex shops in Atlanta, decked strip club agent Lowell Smith (who represents Santa Fey and XXX) with one punch on the opening day of CES 99. Smith had made disparaging remarks about Morrison's employees.

Friday morning I met Russ Hampshire at the VCA booth. He introduced me to Marilyn Chambers who explained her decision to return to X.

"I was running out of fantasies," said Marilyn who divorced for the third time four years ago. "It's helped my sex life to fantasize about the films I've done.

"AIDS really scared me. VCA is condoms only. Russ and Janie [Hamilton] and the whole crew at VCA are so classy. Russ is a fair person. Which is an unusual thing to say about anybody in this business, I hate to say. Russ has lived up to everything that he said he would do. There was no pressure on the set [of Still Insatiable shot in early December].

"It wouldn't have been right five years ago. It wouldn't have been right a year ago. For some reason, it was the right time at the right place... I did three sex scenes and a masturbation scene. I was nervous... Ohmigod, doing a double penetration in a sleazy motel room with Mr. Marcus and Julian St. Croix, oooh. But that was my favorite scene. Then a scene with Julian and a scene with Kylie Ireland, Julie Ashton and Julian.

"I don't know how it went. They kept saying it looked great. I never saw anything until yesterday [Thursday, 1/7]. They put some of my stuff up and it was really pretty. I was happy with it.

"I was nervous. I hoped I could look good. I hoped I could get their dicks up there... But it was mind over matter. And it was fun, a blast. No pressure. The crew was great. Jane [Hamilton, the director] was great. None of the girls had attitudes.

"I've known Jane Hamilton [Veronica Hart] for 20 years. We worked together on the R-rated Little Shop of Horrors for Private Screenings in New York [during the 1980s]. She's very sexy and a good actress. On our shoot [Still Insatiable], she was calm, friendly. She never goes nuts.

"I have some ideas for the future that I won't go into now. I wish that I'd met them earlier [Jane Hamilton, Russ Hampshire].

"Chuck Traynor was great. I asked him to come on the set [of Still Insatiable] with me to help me out, mentalwise. I was having a hard time..."

Luke: "He's very good putting you in state."

Marilyn: "Yes. He knew I could do it. I got a little nuts before... I didn't want to be doing a sex scene and going ahhhh. I wanted it to be cool. It worked out fine. But us women, we worry about everything.

"I don't know what happened between them [Linda Lovelace and Chuck Traynor] but I feel that it [Lovelace's book Ordeal] was really s---ty of her... She said a lot of stuff about Sammy [Davis Jr.], Hugh Hefner, and Chuck, and they all got together... Chuck did have a temper. But I know that he didn't kick her with his boots... He and I had our disagreements but I always made my own decisions. Chuck made me a star. He showed me that you have to give people what they don't expect - nice person... You have to be as freaky off-stage as on because word-of-mouth is the best advertising. He was absolutely right. But if I didn't agree with that, I would not have done as he said. I did what he said and it worked."

Marilyn's fourth marriage ended in 1994. "I'm single and loving it." Her daughter was born in 1990.

Luke: "Will your comeback affect your daughter?"

Marilyn: "Probably. She'll need some therapy down the road. She knows that I do sexy things that she's not aware of. It's not necessary to give her all the gory details yet. I'm sure other people will. Kids are cruel. She's cool, a tough little cookie... So, what are you going to do? I can't be a secretary."

Chambers did not bring her kid to Vegas. "Vegas is for adults, not for families. I love being a mom. I have all her friends over. She's going to finish school while staying with my ex-husband. I have her on weekends. All her friends in the neighborhood come over and I cook for all of them. In June she'll come back and I'll have her all the time.

"I talk with my parents twice a week. We don't discuss the movies I'm most famous for. My dad's a secret fan. I embarrassed them. Not being a parent until recently, I didn't understand it. I now do.

"I still do the R-rated cable TV show. At the end of January I go to Florida to do two days of shooting. Aside from that, and making appearances, I'm a mom. I broke my elbow a couple of years ago and couldn't do much for a year.

"I retired in 1986 because I felt that I had done all I could do. There were too many people trying to do the same thing. When I started, there were only a few companies."

Luke: "If critics take shots at you in this new release, will it get to you?"

Marilyn: "I'm sure they will [take shots]. No, that's fine. There are a lot of people my age [46] and older who watch adult films... And you don't have to look 18 [anymore to star in a porno]. There aren't enough films with older women...to be as they are, without plastic surgery... to make it ok to have some fat here, and some wrinkles and looking older... Older women can still be sexy and some younger guys like that. 'Hey, that's cool.' It's intimidating to look at 18-year olds on screen. So I did it [the comeback] for that reason also. It's ok to be older and we're still sexy."

Luke: "Your private life?"

Marilyn: "I have some friends that I see frequently, with no strings attached."

Luke: "How's your sex drive compared to 10-20 years ago?"

Marilyn: "Better. I stopped lying about my age a long time ago because I got caught one time on a TV show. My math isn't too good and it was really embarrassing. Sex is great. I don't feel the need to have it all the time. It's difficult to go on dates, because it is near impossible [to live up to the fantasy of Marilyn Chambers]. I don't like to be on all the time. But I don't really give a s--- what anybody thinks these days."

I wandered around the porn section of the CES, followed by New Times reporter Peter Gilstrap and N.T. photographer Don, as well as the Canadian documentary crew Paul Cowan and John Martin. We talked to Bill Margold at the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) booth.

Margold has stopped writing for AVN. "I don't think anybody reads it. I only wrote two columns. It didn't amount to anything. I asked questions in both columns and got no responses. Why would I want to write for the deaf, dumb and blind? Plus, I had so much excoriation from my counselors, my consciences and my soul watches, that I figured it is better not to write for them and continue on in my own way. Writing for AVN is like writing the last five commandments. No one is going to read them. AVN already owns the Ten Commandments... It was just a wild thought, a futile gesture. You're [Luke F-rd] going to write for them?"

Luke: "Maybe."

Bill: "You should investigate your own conscience and stay aloof. Once your owned, it's hard to cut that price tag."

Luke: "What did you think of the RAME get together last night?"

Bill: "It was wonderful. It was an uplifting...one of the happiest and most charming events I've ever attended. A bunch of happy people still cloaked in anonymity because I made them sign in under their call signals... I don't need to know their real names. Just a bunch of normal people getting together to back in each other's internet glow. You do know that you were given the first RAMER of the Year award?"

Luke: "No."

Bill: "But we don't have the Golden Jackass Award to give you, so next year we owe you a donkey. You can only win it once."

Wylde Oscar at the Evil Angel booth denies rumors that his wife Nici Sterling does escort work. Nici has no connection to www.nicisgirls.com which offers up the sexual services of numerous porn girls. Wylde says he would not object to Nici doing prostitution so long as it was legal.

The couple came out with only one edition of her fan-f--- series. "It wasn't as successful as we anticipated." The couple essentially retired from porn this spring after the HIV outbreak. "We love the industry. We had a good time... At some stage we'll move to the mid-West."

When not riding horses and racing motorcycles, Oscar spends most of his time overseeing the Evil Angel magazine Buttman. "We've released three issues and the third one published 50,000 issues... Each issue sells for $10." John Stagliano serves as publisher and Oscar is credited as marketing director.

"Nici and I swing more than ever now that we don't do movies."

Randy West has no plans to retire. "Like a ballplayer who can still hit .300... When the pitchers can get him out, he'll hang it up. When the girls tell me 'nah, I don't want to f--- you,' I'll quit."

Luke: "Do you use any artificial stimulants?"

Randy: "Nothing but pussy."

Luke: "How widespread is that, using needles, viagara?"

Randy: "It's more widespread than five years ago. The idea of a needle in my dick doesn't work for me. I've got one hole in there and that's enough. If pussy doesn't do it for you, you should find another job. I'm lucky because I get my pick of the new girls. When you do regular movies and have to work with the same girls over and over... Some are ok to work with over and over... At that point, I don't blame a guy who needs Viagra. I would rather turn down a job then work with somebody who doesn't turn me on. I've never needed the money that bad to take any girl they gave me. Who the girl was has always been more important to me than to ask for more money."

Luke: "Are you still singing?"

Randy: "Not really. They asked me to sing this year at the AVN Awards but they asked me at the last minute and I don't like to do things like that at the last minute.

"We're selling about 5,000 copies or so out the door [of each new edition of his Evil Angel series]. Only Ed Powers and Buttman do that. I thank the fans. I shoot what turns me on and fortunately there are enough people who want to pick it up.

"I go out of my way to look for new girls and I also offer good money. I'd rather spend money on talent than on fancy production values. I'd rather see a good-looking girl in a back alley than an average girl in a mansion.

"It gets me off to see girls getting off on camera. That's my whole thing. I get the top girls and let them be themselves. I get horny just seeing them getting off. I think they enjoy that too. They don't have to worry about their lines... They can just f--- their brains out and let anybody watch.

"A lot of girls send me pictures or E-mail. I go to lots of strip clubs and find women there. I make appearances across the country and women show up. I have friends around the country who find girls for me. I used to do a lot of work with World Modeling but there are so many guys in LA shooting now, that they're like vultures fighting for the girls.

"I rarely do features, maybe a couple of times a year. If they have the right girl and I have time..."

Luke: "Some directors have told me, 'Randy just likes to f---. He can act if he wants to, but he only wants to f---.'"

Randy: "I like acting and I'm good at it. I've always been pissed off that they didn't pay you for your extra work. If the script is so important, then why don't I get paid more than the guy who brings in the pizza and gets f---ed? I'd get only $100 more to do a 30 page script."

Crowd of fans waiting behind me for Randy's autograph is getting restless. "Randy, you're the man... Randy, give me a break. This guy [Luke] is a pain in the ass."

Randy: "Andrew Blake is one of my favorite directors. He didn't require much of a script."

Luke: "What do you think of the AVN Awards?"

Randy: "I think it matters more when you're first getting established. Once you're established, it doesn't make much difference. To me, the fan opinion is most important. Critics are just one more guy with an opinion. Most of them [fans and critics] are happy with my work... Most of those [critics] who are negative, are just jealous of my success. Just diarhea of the mouth. They want to get on your case because they have nothing better to do. Constructive criticism is fine. If a guy makes a good point..."

Luke: "Do you fear getting old?"

Randy: "My license says that I am getting old, but my body says I am not. I'm a 51-year old guy with a 20-year old dick. It's little things like this that keep me going."

A 20-year old brunette, Katie June, cuddles up to Randy.

Randy: "All these girls are old enough to be my daughter. Fortunately they are just adopted daughters, so I can get away with it..."

I stop by the Cream Entertainment booth. Zoe and Cassidy sign autographs. John Bone's talking with 6' blonde beauty Jenny Lee McKenzie and her husband Jeff.

John introduces me thus. "I can take you out to dinner with Gene Ross," John talks Jenny and Jeff, "and your interview will be appear in three months. With Luke, it will be up the next day."

Later, John concentrates his pitch on Jenny's hubby Jeff.

"You come to me and I will structure her career. I will put a lot of time and a lot of energy making sure she meets the right people, making sure she makes the right movies and making sure she does the right things. She does everything I tell her. She's holding a good career in her hands. She's well-liked. Things are going well for her. Boom, she's gone. [Jenny left John and porno 6/98.]

"Now, it's a year later. I have to pick everything up again. It's never as easy the second time around. Now when I call up and say Jenny Lee McKenzie is back, they'll say, 'wasn't she with you before?' So I spend more time explaining why there's a slice gone. And nobody believes a word I say. They'll think she was either in jail or her husband was beating her... There's always something more interesting to believe than that she was a f---ing idiot and listened to a dance agent [Charley Frey?]... She does three movies for some pissant company in Dallas... They're probably no good or they'd have a distributor.

"When I give you a program, it's not optional. You can't do this for a bit and then when you think you're as smart as me, you can go do it yourself. Here's the program. If you want the end product, there are the steps and here is the time frame. I would be delighted to take her back. I love the girl."

John eventually resigned Jenny. She did about four videos for him last Spring. She measures 40DD-26-36.

I run into Kristen. She says she picked up five girls Thursday night, brought them back to her room and seduced them, then went out cruising with porn star Porsha for straight girls. "We struck out. They were really scared. They thought we were prostitutes or something rather than porn stars. I haven't done any boys since Matt Zane. I need a new man with a penis no longer than seven inches."

I return to Margold at the FSC.

Bill to TV camera: "Luke earned the Jackass of the Year award by putting his internet in his mouth more often than anybody else. But it's all freedom of speech. We will never ever censor Luke F-rd. He has a right to say whatever he has to say, no matter who he hurts.

"No form of speech is really bad. Words aren't really going to hurt you... Sticks and stones... unless the words are turned into a dagger and plunged into your heart. Luke knows how to do that very well."

Paul Cowan from Canadian Film Board: "Bill, what I'm amazed at is how many people seem hurt by Luke's sticks and stones?"

Bill: "This is a very sensitive business and Luke is throwing words at stained glass windows and once in a while, stained glass windows break. The adult performer is one of the thinnest skinned, most fragile type of person in the world. They are over-age juvenile delinquents. They want gold stars pasted on their heads. They don't want to be kicked around. And there's no reason for them to be kicked around. They don't deserve Luke F-rd."

Paul: "Don't they deserve somebody questioning what they're doing?"

Bill: "Yes, but questioning and accusing are two different things. He starts rumors about people and then can't substantiate them. He's had half this industry dead. The slightest rumor is permeated through the internet by Luke. And then he never even says they are not dead. He just leaves them in cyberspace. Luke rarely apologizes for his mistakes. At least a man would do that."

Paul: "I seem to find Luke apologizing constantly."

Bill: "Well, that's because he's Jewish. It has nothing to do with his making mistakes. Apparently a converted Jew, which sounds like some kind of rice without a foreskin. He's converted to Judaism and he's apologized for that."

Paul: "Well, I've never heard him apologize for that but I have heard him apologize for just about everything else."

Luke: "How often do you read the internet?" [This is the first time I've talked to Margold since 7/98.]

Bill: "I read it when I'm told to read it. Most of the stuff on there is worthless but last night we [RAME meet] had a wonderful meeting and he [Luke F-rd] was the guest of honor. People came together who were anonymous and I hope he doesn't use pictures of them. This is a real test of Luke. Now I'll call his bluff. He took pictures of people at that meeting last night. If they show up on the internet, that's really sad. People have a right to anonymity."

Paul: "What do you think Luke?"

Luke: "Anyone from that group who does not want their picture on my site, will not go on my site."

Bill: "How will will they know?"

Luke: "They all read my site."

Bil introduces me to Greta Carlson who makes spanking tapes. Luke does not want to appear in a spanking tape. Bill and Greta appear in Bruise Brothers in Decadent Days.

Bill: "She sends a bunch of worthless people to work for us. Then she beats them up and beats up too. And then works off with our pay at the end of the movie."

Margold returns to talking about Luke and the internet to the Canadian TV crew:

Bill: "I predicted in 1985, 'leave us alone and we'll destroy ourselves.' All this infighting... We're eating our own entrails. And you're [Luke] one of the people victimized by it... You create your own misery but you're also a victim of the misery you create. You're trapped in a horrendous quicksand downdraft."

Luke: "Do you think that I should go to work for Paul?"

Bill: "Absolutely not. You have to remain true to your own beliefs, and if you go work for AVN, you won't be able to do that anymore. It would be the supreme form of selling out. You've been attacking them for all these years. Why all of a sudden would you rollover, kick your legs in the air and have them eviscerate you?"

Luke: "I have no money and no health insurance."

Bill: "Money? Money? That's the reason you do all this? Money? You can get health insurance through the Free Speech Coalition for $93 a month. You're going to sell your soul for $93 a month?"

Luke: "I don't care about this industry. I don't care who I write for."

Bill: "That makes you some kind of journalistic whore. You're no better than the man shooting this movie [Paul Cowan]. He doesn't care about this industry either for all we know. He's in Canada. He doesn't give a s--- about what is going on down here. He'd let the whole country sink into the Gulf of Mexico and own the world.

"Don't you [Luke] think that you've established a following who believes in you and that you would be selling out that following if you worked for AVN? You've taught your following, your mindless masses, that AVN is a crock of s---. All of a sudden you're in the s---. Remember the 1919 Black Sox scandal. 'Say it ain't so, Joe?'

"I wrote two columns for AVN and I had stigmata. My hands bled. I could not do it anymore. Everytime I went to my computer to write, my hands began to bleed. And I told Paul that. I'd sooner starve and put my cats on the street to work for me, than to write for AVN."

Luke: "I don't care about AVN. I don't care for AVN."

Bill: "But you're going to write for them? That's an idiotic thing to say."

Luke: "They're a money-making business which frequently shills for the industry. Their dominant advertisers are VCA and Vivid..."

Bill: "And don't you think that you would have to kiss the ass of those advertisers if you wrote for AVN?"

Luke: "No."

Bill: "Don't you think you'll have to style your slants more for them than against them? Do you think you'll be able to offend anybody who pays that magazine's bills?"

Luke: "Yes."

Bill: "How naive are you? You are going to be raped in ways you never dreamed. Bend over kid, the whole world is coming up your ass."

Luke: "I'd like to write an on-line column for AVN."

Bill: "Well, isn't that nice? You'd like to write an on-line column. You think they are going to pay you to write what you want to write? You'll become one of the company shills."

Luke: "No. I'll keep my same hostile attitude."

Bill: "No, of course not. January 8, 1999, Luke F-rd ain't going to sell out. January 11, 1999, Luke F-rd goes to work for AVN.

"Once you sell your soul, you can't buy it back."

Luke: "I'd like to write for them and keep my site. That way I could get money from them..."

Bill: "What a wheeler-dealer. Aren't you cute."

Luke: "I don't care. I want some money."

Bill: "Earn it. Can't you market your own misery?"

Luke: "No, I'm not good at marketing."

Bill: "Then find some other man who will market you. This man [cameraman Paul Cowan] will market you. He's in love with you. He worships you with his camera."

Luke: "He doesn't know anything about business."

Bill: "That's a horrible thing to say. How do you know he doesn't know anything about business? Have the man behind you with the tape recorder [Pater Gilstrap] market you. You're going to be on the cover of New Times."

Luke: "He's just a journalist."

Bill: "That's a denigrating thing to say. What the hell do you think you are?"

Luke: "I'm certainly not a journalist."

Bill: "You're going to wind up on the cover of New Times with a target - Luke F-rd. People will throw darts at you. I guess you aspire to be asshole of the month at Hustler."

Luke: "I'm the Messiah. I've come here to die for the world's sins."

Bill: "I doubt that. If you came here to die for the world's sins, you'd have been dead 100 times. Martyrdom is passe. You aren't worth killing. And unless you decide what you want to do with all this stuff that you know, no one is even going to pay attention to you. You will become tragically passe in your own lifetime as I said the last time in an interview about you. You are a phenomenon. You are the pet rock of the internet but pet rocks can be crumbled into dust."

Luke: "What I'd like to do is line my pockets with cash from Vivid, VCA and AVN, and write what I want."

Bill: "You really think that once you get in, you can get out? Remember the line from Godfather 3. 'I thought I was out but they sucked me back in.' Once you find out how much fun it is to make money, you won't want to stop making it, no matter who you sell out, including yourself. Think about that kid. I think that I may have told you that the very first day we met. And I was the one who brought you into this whole thing. And if you hadn't written that stuff about Stagliano [2/97 on RAME] without my saying you could, you might be still be welcome into the cave [Bill's apartment].

"But you lied about me a couple of times and you know damn well you did. The Malitia lie was absolutely malicious, where I [supposedly] threw her out of my office. What a crock of s---. During one of the most troubled times in the history of our business, I'd throw a woman out of my office. I adore the woman. She came into my office [PAW office in Jim South's building] and put her head of my shoulder and I said 'everything will be all right.' And that's throwing a person out of my office? Remember?"

Luke: "I wrote according to Zane."

Bill: "Oh no, according to nothing. It was you. This was off your empty head."

Luke: "I've screwed up countless times but I've never written a lie. I've never written something on the internet that I knew not to be true."

Bill: "Webster's Dictionary year 2010. Lie - Luke F-rd. First definition of the term. It would be nice to ask somebody about what goes on in their lives before you print it and hurt them. And you don't ask a lot of people, do you? You just blithely put it down there and see where the chips will fall."

Luke: "That's true. Because half the time when I call the object of a story, they plead with me not to write it."

Bill: "Do you feel you have to tell the world everything?"

Luke: "I don't tell the world everything I know, I tell the world half of what I know."

Bill: "What haven't you told them? Tell some secrets to the camera right now."

Luke: "Bill, do you think I could have sex with more porn girls if I worked for AVN?"

Bill: "Unless they don't know who you are, I don't think these people [pointing to porn beauties] would talk to you..."

Luke: "None of these girls want to f--- me, Bill. Why?"

Bill: "Because you've f---ed them already with verbiage."

Luke: "I've never been able to get my dick sucked."

Bill: "Yes you did. You wrote about that. You can't even remember your only blow job?"

Luke: "Okay, once. I'd like to get some gratuitious free porn star blow jobs. How?"

Bill: "Maybe if you were nice to some of these people, you might... But if you keep treating them with content, I seriously doubt them sucking it. They may well bite it off."

I wandered over to the VCA booth where Russ Hampshire gave me my pass to his table at the AVN Awards Saturday night at Ballys hotel. I sat at a table with Howie Klein and Ben Dover. Ben had just read my bio of him and he said it was the only accurate one written. Walter Gernert (aka Walter Dark) wandered over, tapped me on the shoulder, and we spoke privately in Hampshire's office for 30 minutes. Now the Sabbath was closing in fast, so I jumped into a taxi and returned to my room at the Riviera.

Just after 5PM Saturday, I returned to work at the CES. I stopped by the Vivid booth with the Canadian video crew. For the first time, I met Vivid PR man David Schlessinger and the head of the Vivid sales Howard Levine who's been with the company since 1989. Before then he ran GVA West for David Sturman in San Francisco.

Racquel Darrian is still married to Derek Lane. She only did two movies last year and spends half of her time on the road stripping. Julianne, in porn since 1991, met her Blondage partner Janine at age 18. Julianne will now perform sex with anyone.

We drop by the FSC booth where 6' Fiero signs autographs. Formerly a redhead, she's now blonde and finding herself getting more work.

Margold talks to a TV crew: "If there wasn't a dollar sign in the First Amendment, Larry [Flynt] wouldn't care about it. Larry is in it for the buck. I don't like making money. I like making other people money, then they become corrupt and go away. I don't like Larry. There's something unpalatable about the man. They say sex is dirty. I suspect Larry Flynt is the definition of that. A lot of the people who feed off this business don't like the business and the two biggest victims of that are the performers and the fans. So I've become the conscience of this industry..."

A CES commissioner stops by to shut Margold up. The booths are supposed to close by 6PM and it is now 6:10.

Bill: "It's interesting that I am being shown a clock to the right of this cameraman... Without us, the FSC, this place would be the garage that it was before we got here. People come here by the droves to see us."

Commissioner: "We're not curtailing speech, we're curtailing time."

Bill: "Freedom of speech has no time limit."

Commissioner: "Yes it does. It does here."

I take a taxi over to Ballys for the AVN Awards. I find my place at Hampshire's table (#20) near the podium. We're later joined by Jane Hamilton and Russ's mother and sister-in-law.

I meet 5'2" Playboy producer Eric Mittleman who's brought a crew of 15 to videotape the AVN Awards. I'm interviewed by Juli Ashton and the Helmetcam guy.

The AVN Awards begin just after 9PM with some lame jokes from Robert Schimmel who's joined at the podium by Alisha Klass who says half a dozen times how good it feels to have a big cock (or Chloe's fist) up her ass. Most of Klass's jokes fall flat.

AVN Publisher Paul Fishbein: "The person that we're about to give a Special Achievement Award is about to leave on an airplane because our government decided that once again, here's a guy who provides America with material they choose to watch in privacy, the government decided that they did not like that.

"Last year I gave this award to Al Goldstein. I said then that there were two men whose trailblazing efforts in publishing paved the way for AVN [Al Goldstein and Larry Flynt]. I remember hearing in college that Larry Flynt had been shot. Like most kids in their late teens were reading Hustler, but I really lacked the understanding for why someone would be shot simply for presenting their own ideas. I never understood teh First Amendment until then. As AVN developed, I grew to appreciate what Larry Flynt had done for me, taking the arrests... And along with Al Goldstein, fighting the government for publishers. Then he took a bullet for what he believed in. And after millions of dollars in legal fees and a more than colorful life, Larry Flynt shines as one of the true defenders of the First Amendment. And without him I realize that I'd probably be doing something else...

"He's going on trial in Cincinnatti because he had the balls to open a store. He's doing unbelievable business. The community is saying that it wants that store... We're lucky to have him because his brilliant exposure of the hypocritical politicians in this society has been a masterstroke. Please welcome with all your heart, a publisher of many magazines, a retailer, a movie star, and Bob Livingstone's living nightmare [former speaker of the House]..."

The band plays America the Beautiful as virtually everyone (3000 persons) stands. Luke F-rd stays firmly planted in his chair. What's this about Flynt taking a bullet for expressing his opinions? More likely, he took a bullet because he tried to screw over the Mafia. From page 213 of John Heidenry's 1998 book What Wild Ecstasy: "But some inside the porn industry knew the Mob was angry that Flynt had been distributing his own magazine and decided to send him a serious message."

"...Flynt asked himself why he should pay a percentage to the Mob. After all, he reasoned, it amounted to only a few cents a copy. They probably made so much money elsewhere... But the Mob did miss the few extra cents, multiplied by several millions twelve times a year. Nor did it like an uppity hillbilly showing it no more respect than he displayed toward a centerfold with a bag over her head. Most ominously, Flynt was deeply in debt to Mob moneylenders, and was ignoring their demands for repayment." (p. 209)

Screw publisher Al Goldstein introduced AVN's Hall of Fame entries thus: "I want to apologize that it was through my efforts that Fishbein [AVN publisher] is in this industry. I feel...like someone who created the Manson family..."

Al reads: "...And listen to Fishbein's following line. 'And who have endured to achieve a lofty status among their peers.' Peers who are cocksuckers and pussy eaters. Lofty? Fishbein is smoking hash."

Paul Fishbein: "This is the first retailer that we're giving our Special Achievement Award to. His name is Eddie Wedelstedt [convicted felon who owns Goalie Entertainment]. He's a legend in the video community who is coming out of the closet. He is truly one of the most loyal and generous I've ever met. He supports every free speech organization in this country. Also, he takes care of underprivileged children in Arizona, Colorado and California. I was present this past summer when the Muscular Dystrophy Association honored Eddie for his charitable work. His legal work challenging unconstitutional ordinances that violate all of your rights, taking obscenity busts in places like Dallas and Council Bluffs, Iowa. He fights them to the end, even when facing jail time."

Eddie W.: "For 17 of the 30 years I've been in retail, I've had to turn myself in to probation officers or wardens. I spent 1700 days in prison for free speech. When I get these awards, I want to think back to the legends who made this possible. People like [convicted thief] Reuben Sturman, Michael Thevis [convicted murderer], DiBi [member of Gambino and DeCavalcante crime families], the Luros family [Milton Luros rose to fame through pirating], the Warner family, and all the great attorneys who made the laws available so that we can operate today.

"This award does not belong to Eddie W. This belongs to the thousands of kids...working for $4:50 - $7:00 an hour, going to jail because they sold a magazine or a video. To all the kids on the movie sets who got busted. To all the women who took abuse until recently when they started realizing what's going on. To all the gay people who were humiliated for all those years... I take this [award] in your name. I thank you. You are the greatest people in the world. You make a dollar, you make money... You're fighting for something...free speech."

Eddie kisses Paul before and after receiving his award.

Paul: "The only two men who have ever kissed me. Eddie and my father.

"Sharon Mitchell gets our next award because she's dedicated her life to the talent of this business. To protect all of you who make movies. Whether you know it or not, she's there for you. First with PAW and now with AIM, her dedication to the talent in this industry is unprecedented... She's provided a refuge for talent with problems..."

Jeanna Fine tries to get everyone to stand for Mitchell. Jim South does immediately and a few dozen others that I can see (near the front).

Sharon: "Thank you Paul and AVN for your undying support. All your [free] ads have really helped spread the word of health care... When I got my first certification in health care, on my way to a doctorate. It will be a while but I am on my way... I thought, great, I have a couple of letters after my name. I can leave the porn business. Then a couple of dear friends of mine became HIV positive. I was in the right place at the right time with the right resources available to me... and I was able to move quickly."

I spend half an hour sitting with Walter Gernert and listening to stories about the history of X. A former student radical at Berkeley in the early '70s, Walter decided that after the 1994 Republican sweep of the congressional elections that he would move to Brazil. He saw a crackdown coming. He was wrong and he regrets his decision. Gernert fights for the legalization of drugs.

Contrary to rumor, Temptress has not quit the business.

Award ceremony seems to last forever. Hampshire keeps a scorecard so I don't have to. At the end of the night, I take his program. On stage Jeanna Fine lives up to her reputation as a whiner, complaining about the mispronounciation of her name. "AVN, you haven't been able to spell my name right for ten years. Now you mispronounce it too."

As the night moved on, and VCA received but a handful of awards, Russ Hampshire repeatedly called out to me that "Deep Throat was full of it" for alleging an AVN-VCA conspiracy to dominate the industry.

Winning Best Actress Video (Cafe Flesh 2), Jeanna Fine announces that she had the privilege of sitting on Larry Flynt's face about eight years ago "and the man eats pussy good." Fine thanks Russ Hampshire for buying her her tits and nose. She says she was VCA's first contract girl but without a contract and Fine reminds Russ that he'd sworn he'd never have contract girls.

Coming out of the awards, I wait in line for a taxi. Loud drunks Nico Treasures, Sid Deuce and Johnathan Morgan stagger about. The three yell loudly, "We won. We have the best pussies."

At the Rio I run into John Decker who's getting divorced from Roxanne Hall. In the fall of 1998, he shot 24 scenes in nine days in Europe, making four movies. He's sold three. John hangs with Mia Smiles.

Trey Parker, Orgazmo director and South Park creator, tells me: "This is my third CES. Porn is more interesting to me than ever because I now have a lot of friends [in porn] and this is the one time a year I get to hang out with them. Chasey Lain, Juli Ashton, Ron Jeremy, Fred Farrell who owns Xplor Media.

"Right now all we're doing is South Park. We're doing more episodes [of the TV show] and we're doing the movie.

"X is entertainment in a whole different sense. I don't compare it to any other art form. I hate it when it tries to get really artistic which is why I like Farrell's company Xplor Media. I don't get serious about it [porn]. I think it is sweet."

I hear that troubled porn couple Terri Starr and hubby John West were under the influence for most of CES.  At one point near the Annabolic booth, Terri and John blew up at each other over Terri's sister Lisa.

I get to bed by 4AM. I feel a savage flu coming on. We check out of the Riviera at noon Sunday. Rob Spallone threatens to trash the place because they charged him $180 which he felt they should've comped him for as he's brought the hotel much business (guests in 16 rooms paying full rate). Riviera already comped Spallone several free rooms and $1600 worth of expenses.

Rob Spallone: "AVN should've given me a Special Achievement Award. I'm the one who drove the price down for the PCR DNA from $250 to $75."

Luke comes down with a nasty flu that knocks him into bed the following week.

From Pussycat's latest gossip column at www.unchain.com :

Luke F-rd and LA New Times reporter Peter Gilstrap were pretty chummy (Peter is writing a column on the Great Luke - I call him great because that's what he seems to have become since the fame hit. So much for his former adorable humility - now he's truly one of us).

...Luke F-rd surprisingly wasn't anywhere to be found. There was actually some guy there pretending to be Luke that was really a ham with the TV cameras, reporters and basically anyone else who wanted to worship his little airspace. I suspect that the real Luke was either home in bed or at Synagogue. The fake Luke did a pretty good job, but the real Luke would have liked the show.

Benjamin Weissman, former AVN reviewer Leopold Loeb, writes about the latest award ceremony for Salon:

By the time Shane, a director known for her porno vérité videos, receives an award for her safe sex promotion -- despite the fact that the performers all cum in each other's mouths -- the truth becomes clear: This is an event born out of an identity crisis. The glamour is high but weirdly empty, and the constant banter of anus, cunt-licking, butthole, pussy talk grows tired fast.

The industry wants respect but it has trouble respecting itself. Midway through the ceremony many of the guests are gone...

Brandy Alexandre on her CES: "With JimmyMac in tow (I adopted him somehow) we went to the adult section of CES on Friday. More than just seeing the old gang, I was greeted with plenty of hugs, kisses startled looks of pleasant surprise. Gosh, to read Luke F-rd's site you think people would have run from me screaming. But then he's just posting comments from people who don't know me, have no knowledge of my career, and have nothing to do with the industry.

Oliver 44 replies: "Get Real. Anytime you have a meeting where people haven't seen each other for years, people will get along. High school reunions, old buddies from the service, large family reunions. Don't matter.They are always are gonna be nice. Who wants to bring up old wounds? This especially true in a large public place. Who is gonna tell ya what they _really_ think of ya under those conditions?

"Luke won't say s--- cause he is a wannabe insider. First a book. Then an "investigative reporter". Now, just a little sell out. Anybody can see that he wants to be one of the "gang". He sold out a long time ago. His name is Poop Scoop. He's a fool... a pussy ass industry schill." (alt.cult-movies.erotica newsgroup)