Extreme Scandals
Extreme Associates landed in Brazil this morning to find disconcerting allegations about the company's financial health on this site. Sources say that Extreme owes AVN $9,000 (four pages of ads in the 1/99 issue) and several other people (including employees Van Damage and Tiffany Mynx) thousands of dollars.
Rob Black, Tom Byron, contract boy Luciano and Rob's dad Dominic Zicari got off the plane Tuesday morning PST after a 15-hour flight. They will stay several days in Brazil, whose currency is crashing against the American dollar, to talk to the country's top porn distributor.
I hear that Rob's dad, Dominic Zicari, has pulled the financial plug on his son's company. Dom has long been Extreme's main source of financial support.He's reportedly upset because certain big distributors, like General Video in Cleveland, won't take the Extreme product and Rob's pissing too many people off.
"We don't need my dad to back the company financially now because we pay our own way," said Rob Black Tuesday noon PST. Exhausted by his trip and annoyed by the allegations, he spoke in a hoarse voice by phone just before jumping in the shower.
"Come on Luke, why are you busting my balls?" asked Rob. "Talk to me... You've got me on the phone from Brazil. I just called up Tommy in his room. I told him there's all sorts of drama.
"Yes I owe AVN $9,000. That's nothing. It's for the January issue. One invoice. It's still January. I was there [AVN] in December because Paul [Fishbein] needed money [for Extreme advertising in the AVN 1999 Buyer's Guide special issue] and I brought him down $7000. I asked him about the $9000 for the CES issue, and he said 'don't worry about it because it doesn't come out until January.' So that's BS. Why doesn't anybody call Adam Film World? I take out three pages of ads with them. Jeremy Stone will tell you that I pay my bills. Ask my duplicator SB Productions. I pay my bills on time.
"My dad is here with us in Brazil. He still supports us. We don't need his money now. If I needed the money, would he be there? Of course.
"Everybody knows that GVA Cleveland won't take our product. They've known that since day one. Yes, I'm talking to a salesman. Whether he can get us into GVA Cleveland, who knows? I need a salesman because I don't have one."
Rob's been looking for big time salesmen who work for other companies so that he can get Extreme into more big distributors like GVA Cleveland.
I hear that some powerful pornographers with overseas money would pay Tom Byron big money now, while he's hot, to come work for them. Tom would be instantly rich. "He'd get treatment like John Leslie gets from Evil Angel, putting him in the big time," says a source.
"Tommy is an employee of Extreme and he does not own his videos," said Rob Black from Brazil. "Tommy ain't going anywhere."
Speaking by phone from his hotel in Brazil Tuesday afternoon PST (1/26/99), Tom Byron said: "Mike Daniels does not speak for me. We entered into a business arrangement and he did not live up to it. Rob Black is the only motherf---er in this backstabbing cocksucking business that I trust. I am perfectly happy where I am. He’s the only one who hasn’t lied to me. We fill in gaps for each other. I make the good movies. I know pornography and he knows how to sell it. Plus we’re best friends."
Daniels has kept the books for Tom Byron Productions since Tomy's days at Pat Collins' Elegant Angel. An accountant and an attorney who graduated number four in his law school class (Careena Collins, his porn star friend graduated number three), Daniels has long owned 25% of Tom Byron Productions. Tom owns the other 75%. According to his arrangement with Rob Black's Extreme Associates distributorship, Extreme Associates buys all titles that Byron makes.
Rob "Black" Zicari owns 100% of Extreme Associates and 100% of his own production company Extreme Video which has seven titles in the can including Lizzy Borden's Little House of Whores, Cocksmokers, Pornoman 2, Damage Report 1, 2. Rob's Extreme Associates has the rights to buy all the product of Van Damage Productions (which Van Damage owns 100%) and all the product of Tiffany Mynx Productions (which Tiffany owns 100%). These arrangements are similar to what Rob, Tom, Van and Tiffany had with Patrick Collins' company Elegant Angel. Then, Rob, Tom, Van, and Tiff all owned their own production companies but had binding agreements with Elegant Angel to sell to E.A. all their productions.
Van Damage is looking for work. He appeared in a Cream production two weeks ago with John Bone's new contract girl Jenny Lee McKenzie. I hear that Extreme owes Van almost $100,000. Black says this is nonsense.
"Where does [the number] $100,000 come from?" asked Black. "Van does not even own his own titles. I own his videos. Van is not a partner in Extreme. Van will never be a partner. He gets paid a director's fee. I own Extreme. I own Tommy's videos. Tom Byron owns nothing except Tom Byron Productions. Tom Byron is an employee. It's a misconception that they've [Tom Byron Productions?] told people that they own their own stuff.
"Tom Byron ain't going anywhere and he ain't looking to go anywhere. And after I get showered and dressed, I'm going up to Tommy's room and you can talk to Tommy."
I've heard that Tiffany Mynx says she was not paid for her recent feature.
Black: "Van and Tiffany are welcome to go out on the open market to see if anyone else will give them more money than I pay them. Tiffany was paid for her last feature. I've been supporting Tiffany Mynx for the last four months, paying her rent and providing her with a car. Tiffany Mynx has a lawyer's fee in excess of $10,000 [paid by Rob Black and Extreme] when she tried to steal $20,000 from Patrick Collins on that credit card fiasco. And my lawyers had to bail her ass out... And you can print that Tiffany Mynx is on such f---ing thin ice that I hope she can land a deal by the time I come back from Brazil. I hope she hocks herself out to VCA or Vivid or whoever she can find who will pay her more per feature than I pay her.
"February 1999 will be cleaning house month at Extreme Associates," promises Rob Black. "We'll be getting rid of the rats... We'll be clean by March 1st."
Rob feels that the knives are out since he left the country.
Voluminous information about the financial dealings of Black, Byron and company are available as public record at the Van Nuys Court House. See case LC047316, Daniels vs. Tom Byron Productions, Extreme Associates, Rob Zicari, et. al..
I hear that Black started Extreme Associates with a $90,000 personal loan from his father Dominic which he's been paying back the last three months. For the first six months of Extreme Associates, I understand, the cash advanced from E.A. to the various production companies (Tom Byron Productions, Van Damage Productions, Tiffany Mynx Productions) exceeded the revenue received by Extreme Associates from distributing said productions. Then in the fall of 1998, the situation turned around, and Extreme Associates supposedly began to owe money to the various production companies. When Tom Byron, for instance, needed money, he'd borrow it from Rob Black or from Michael Daniels.
Daniels became increasingly convinced that Rob Black was ripping off Tom Byron Productions. In the dispute between Daniels and Black, Byron sided with his buddy Rob Black.
Daniels is represented by attorney Michael Friedman. Few porno disputes reach this stage. Now that the case has reached the Van Nuys court, embarrassingly intimate financial documents are publically available. I hear there will be an out-of-court settlement soon, with Daniels probably walking away with about $50,000.
AVN reports that Italian director Joe D'Amato died Saturday night of a heart attack. The 62-year old felt bad on his plane trip from Los Angeles to Rome, and upon arrival in Italy, he checked into a hospital where he died. His American movies are usually distributed by Moonlight and Xcel.
Damien Michaels phoned at 11:20 PM (1/25) to talk about his expanding empire. His Ultima2 Entertainment (818-998-6668) operates a management and a production side. "My girls are non-exclusive. Whoever gets them work, gets paid. I'm not an agent. I'm a manager. I just want my girls to work. I bought several of my girls Christmas trees this year. I take care of my girls, all 240 of them.
"A guy from Pirate magazine, a division of Private, said that my best book was the best one he'd seen. I've been dealing with MTV, Playboy and Penthouse this week. I'll be opening a mainstream division soon. The girls may not make as much money immediately, but they're happy to do mainstream."
Damien produces Fat Dog's top line "A Girl's Affair."
Sin City head of production Chuck Martino feels that he's been unfairly bashed by the porn media, (from l-keford.com to Unchain to AVN) over his fiery break-ups with girlfriends. Chuck emphasizes that he's never hit a woman. He wonders why there is so much internal backbiting and hatred in the industry. "I'm here to work, to be a professional... I can get along with most everybody. You [Luke] are always trying to stir things up." Martino says he has no problem with Director James DiGiorgio who probably had the longest run of any Sin City director - 30 months. Chuck wonders why Jim badmouths him.
Director James DiGiorgio wrote to me: "I just read the latest
on your site, Luke. First off, Chuck needs to pull the crack pipe out
of his mouth. Apparently, he imagines more conspiracies than an Oliver
Stone movie! Yeah, everyone's against him, trying to stir s--- up: AVN,
you, JB, his former girlfriends, and apparently, me. Maybe he should
quit blinding people with those Donny Osmond dental implants while flapping
his jaw to anyone who'll listen.
"Chuck doesn't have a problem with me? Your f---in right he doesn't!
And he can quit wondering why I badmouth him....if I wanted to do that,
I'd do it publicly, and he'd have nothing to f---ing wonder about. On
the other hand, I've had more than a few people relate more than a few
unkind words he's spoken of me. So maybe he should heed JB's words when
JB wrote to you about much the same as I'm writing to you about.
"After reading your column today, I'm pretty sure that everytime
you've written something about Chuck, or David, or Sin City, I've been
perceived as the culprit who instigated it. And I wonder how that perception
got spread around? You see, everything I've read about "Chuck City"
could have come from a variety of people; and it probably did! And quite
frankly, the first I usually heard of it was reading it
on your site. I guess it's more convenient to assume it came from one
individual.
"And by the way, Chuck's never heard me badmouth anyone. On the
other hand, I've had Chuck bad mouth others to me. Example? He spent
about thirty minutes a few months back bad-mouthing Nikki Lynn and her
Sin City contract to me. But what Chuck didn't know at the time was
that Nikki is a good personal friend of mine, and that I was the one
who put her and Sin City together in that contract deal. Did that show
up on your site? I think not. Why? Because instead of relating the incident
to
you, I spoke with David and suggested that he might consider explaining
to Chuck the business rationale for signing Nikki to that contract.
Whether he did or not, I don't know, and I didn't inquire. So Chuck,
if you want to be treated like a professional, f---ing act like one."
Luke asked AVN publisher Paul Fishbein: "I've heard that you buy videos for your stores from companies, then don't pay them, and thus video companies are forced to take ads in AVN as compensation for the vids they sold you. Any truth to this? Do you mix accounts between your stores and AVN? Do many video companies take ads in AVN instead of direct payment from you for the tapes you buy for your stores?"
Paul replies: "It's funny how you gets facts turned around. When
I buy videos for my stores, I always pay my bills. You know what I'm
going to say next. Who said that I don't pay my bills? Name names. [Luke
can't.] I've never stiffed any company.
"On the other hand, people sometimes buy ads and don't pay me and
I'm stuck taking product that I don't need. There are a lot of people
who have not been able to pay me and as a favor have taken product.
I used to contra a lot more but I've cut it down to a minimum. But I
buy from a lot of people and I think I have a pretty good reputation
for paying bills. No I don't mix accounts because I have partners in
my stores. It's funny how you can turn a phrase and twist the facts."
On days that he works out (at a power gym in the Valley with numerous other leading porners like Steve Hirsch), like Tuesday, Fishbein eats a light breakfast. Today he had a bagel and coffee.
An update on Tiffany Towers: "She got real sick of the road...and
went back to her home town of Ottawa, where she house-danced at Fannys
(now closed) then the Bare Fax...went home at night to only her dog,
bandito, no steady man....but was legendary around town for oocasional
partying which included men, women, gang bangs, you name it.
"Ottawa got be boring for her, and she moved to Toronto, where
she housedances now at the Brass Rail...toned down her lifestyle...still
goes home with a couple occasionally, but leads a pretty quiet life.
Appears each night on local TV latenight in a 30 minute infomercial
for
a phone dating 800 line, along with a couple stripper buddies. During
her small parts of the show she looks great and sexy as always, and
has
had a reduction, although she still has the sexiest pair of tits in
the
business.
"If you want to meet her, go to the Brass Rail in Toronto....phone
ahead
to find out when she is there....and if she likes you, she will indeed
let you take her to dinner....but take some cash 'cause she loves to
shop up a storm. Her real name is Tiffany...last name Amarziano....nice
Italian girl."
France's Hot Video magazine (similar to AVN in the US) holds its Hot
D'Or Awards show in Cannes May 19.
HIV positives Brooke Ashley and Kimberly Jade did interviews with Hard Copy last week at Rob Spallone's studio, and they lashed into segments of the porno industry such as PAW (Protecting Adult Welfare) and AIM (Adult Industry Medicine).
On a foggy 60 degree Sunday, I drove north on the 405 freeway than west on the 101, exited on White Oak Blvd, and drove into the Encino Hills to Rob Spallone's mansion-studio where Chuck Martino was shooting a sizzling edition, perhaps the hottest ever, of his Philmore Butts series for Sunshine. Martino has excellent connections with talent (help coming from European specialist J.J. Michaels and European talent agents Hans and Jordan), and has flooded his last few productions with beautiful new European girls.
I arrive at 11AM to find Chuck eating breakfast while talking with his fiance Shay Sweet, cameraman Mickey Ray and talent agent Rob Spallone. Just before Christmas, Sweet underwent breast enhancement surgery, moving from a 34A to a 34C (paid for, I hear, by Shay's boyfriend of the time, a salesman at Midnight). The implant went half under the muscle and half over it, resulting in great pain to her for days afterward. Shay and Chuck leave for Cancun, Mexico this week for eight days. They marry February 6th.
Alec Metro buffed East European beauty Szlyvia Stenna ("best natural breasts in the business," says some porners) Sunday evening. He's worked a week straight and does not get a break till Thursday. On the birthday of his girlfriend (perhaps fiance soon) February 12, Alec and Raylene will fly to a five star resort in Mexico for a well-deserved vacation.
Martino loves to shop. His closets overflow with clothes and shoes. Half of his crew is wearing today Chuck's castoffs. All of Mickey Ray's attire, including black pants, black belt, sweater and $150 Nike Air Jordan black and red running shoes come from Chuck. Martino bought the shoes, wore them home, then decided he didn't like them, and thus never wore them again. Keith the Gaffer wears new shoes given to him by Chuck.
Rob Spallone says he's leased another home (Topanga Canyon) to use as a porn studio. Rob introduces me to his new girl - tall redhead Natasha Blake. Standing 5'9" with natural breasts and exotic Egyptian tattoos on her stomach, she appears in ten videos. Her best - Backdoor Passes for Elegant Angel where she took on Pat Myne and Candy Roxx. A stripper for five years, she met a porn girl while doing bachelor parties. John Kennedy from LGI Distributors took Natasha to the East Coast Video show. She signed at CES for www.adultstarsmagazine.com. She appears in its February issue.
Natasha's husband is Billy Lawless. They did several sex scenes together. Billy met her at Tiffany's Cabaret in Cleveland, Ohio. He walked up to her, gave her a $100 bill and told her that he wanted to marry her. Six months later, they were married.
Rob Spallone: "That's how you'll get married Luke. You'll walk into temple and give a girl ten cents...
"Jim South is on the cop's payroll. How do I know? There was a shoot at a house the other day and the cops came to bust it. And they called Jim South first. Jim South called the house and told them the cops were on the way. Jim South is a rat. He loves to call the cops on his competition like Damien Michaels.
"I'm all legitimate. The cops were here, probably sent by Jim South. The cops can't bother us. If Jim South wants to create any more trouble, I have the 800 number for the permit office and I will see to it that Jim South gets no more permits. Just one phone call. Jim's a rat bastard. [Jim South denies these accusations.]"
Rob crows that his horse ($16,000) Slash The Price (owned with Dr. Jim Bonura of the North Hollywood Clinic) won his race at Sana Anita, earning $20,000.
Rob: "You need some money, Luke? Go rob a bank."
Spallone calls Damien Michaels. "Damien, you don't get paid for this Jennifer Leigh girl. She's mine."
Damien: "She was my girlfriend..."
Rob: "I don't care. Don't bother Metro no more with bills for Jennifer Leigh..."
Damien: "Ok... I need a car."
Rob: "I'll get you a car."
Rob to Luke: "Yes, I threw Damien out of my business, but I'm a nice guy. I'll help him get a car. But he [Damien] better leave Regan Senter alone because you know that I like Regan Senter. Steve Austin [former assistant to Jim South at World Modeling] called me the other day too. I'm going to help him buy a car too.
"There's no money in this business. Three years ago, Adam & Eve used to buy a tractor-trailer load of videos every month.
"Sin City. David [Sturman] told me they sell 1200-1400 pieces out the door [of a typical release]. The average company is lucky to sell a 1000 pieces out the door."
Chuck Martino, Sin City's head of production, says: "Six months ago Sin City moved 1700 pieces of a new feature. Now we sell 2300 out the door. 2200 for gonzos."
A porner: "Sin City may ship 2300 pieces, but they sell only 1300. The other 1000 pieces they trade with other companies. David Sturman owns about 100 stores, and so he trades Sin City product (which costs him virtually nothing after the production [low marginal costs]) with Legend, VCA and Vivid to fill his stores. So instead of buying tapes from Vivid at $13 each, he trades them tapes that only cost him $1:50 each. A good analogy would be the Rose Bowl flea market where 75% of all sales that take place are dealer to dealer [also a good way to avoid taxes and launder mob drug money].
"Every deal may be different. Vivid may contra [trade] one feature for three Leisure Time comps... The guys who make out great on the trade deals own retail stores - David Sturman, Vivid, IVD..."
Jim Gunn: "IVD the company owns no retail stores whatsoever, yet in spite of this they are arguably the biggest wholesale adult video distributor in the country. IVD sells their overwhelming amount of inventory to their retail store customers- both regular video stores and all adult bookstores; chains of retail stores; adult mega-stores; and similar customers all over the country, especially east of the Misissippi."
Porner: "David's [Sturman] biggest money-maker is Profit-Pak. He buys old dirty magazines, puts three in a plastic bag with the best looking cover on the outside, and sells them for $15 each. This business is a house of cards because there ain't that much cash coming down the line.
"Vivid puts out a new show for $13 each. Then they find out that one of the Israelis (like Factory Home Video) is selling that same show for $8 [through contra deals]. If this business were all Italians, they'd be killing each other. But Jews aren't going to kill. If this business were run by Mexicans, Russians, blacks or Italians, there'd be blood all over the business. Because everybody's f---ing everybody every chance they get. When they get together at these shows [like CES], they run around hugging and kissing each other when every one has f---ed the other in the ass...
"Extreme doesn't sell 4000 pieces out the door. Much of that is contra. And they have no cable sales. Ed Powers came into Sin City because he told David [Sturman], I can double your sales, from 2000 pieces to 4000. I have all these hidden buyers. But folks like Mickey Blank and Gigi Appleton know all the buyers. They knew it couldn't be done. And it wasn't done. Including stuff with Ed Powers name on it. There were no secret buyers. And three months later, Ed was out the door."
Rob: "I can show you bounced checks from every company in this business, except the big ones like VCA and Vivid. If you don't have the foreign sales, and the cable, you're finished. What's the little scumbag's name?"
Luke: "There are so many."
Rob: "Gabor does well with foreign sales. He don't make a dime in America. David Sturman sells his softcore [cable] for as much as he sells his hardcore..."
Chuck Martino produced a feature for Sin City Friday and Saturday (for about $35,000?). Michael Raven directed. Talent included such European beauties as blonde Linda Thoren, Sylvia Saint, Szylvia Stenna, Caroline (NOT the Hungarian who tested HIV positive 4/98) and Americans Sydney Steele (Raven's wife) and newcomer Myra Divine. Will Martino and Raven soon move up to making Sin City's top of the line features ($50-$80,000) presently crafted by Kris Kramski?
By noon (1/24/99) I'm sitting in Spallone's living room with Mark Powell, a French sex performer and boyfriend of French blonde Dolly Golden (who's performed in Europorn for three years and is now on her third working trip to Los Angeles), and Eurobabe agent Hans (from Holland though his agency is based in Eastern Europe) watching Dolly and Martina (a brunette from the Czech Republic) take on well-hung American black Lexington Steele. Martino (who's been sticking Orajel in his mouth the last five days to deal with severe tooth pain until he can see Buck Adams dentist Monday morning) brings Alec Metro in and out of the scene.
Sitting on the couch, Alec says to Dolly, Martina and Lex: "I want this to be nasty...brutal... Knock yourselves out."
As the scene progresses, production assistant Robbie sprays down the girls' vaginas to make them look wet and horny.
Later, Chuck directs Martina (through interpreter Hans) to pull Lexington's dick out of Dolly's pussy, suck on it, put it back in Dolly, pull it out again after a few strokes, suck... repeat. Martino believes that this will be the nastiest Philmore Butts ever. Using two cameras (usually only uses one), including one with a wide-angle lens for extreme close-ups, and a bigger budget for talent, Martino's patterning this video after the nasty gonzos of Evil and Elegant Angel.
A crew member: "JJ Michaels is right. European girls are sexier and far easier to work with than American girls."
In the reverse cowgirl position, Martina gingerly mounts Lex's cock with her anus but over the next ten minutes is never able to take more than half of it up her ass. Then the performers take a break, clean off and return to the couch. Dolly bends over the couch and Lex, standing up, mounts her anally via the doggy position. She warns him that she often bleeds during anal sex and they have to stop several times to wipe up the blood that trickles from her ass. Lex stops several times to lubes his penis and to paint lube into Dolly's ass with his finger. At one point he squirts lube directly into her sensitive ass. As the scene progresses, Lex penetrates Dolly more deeply than he did Martina, and during one furious pounding the blood trickles from her ass down her thigh to her knee and below.
As instructed, Dolly cries out "f--- me up the ass. I want your cock up my ass. Ohh yeah, all the way up my ass."
For the cum shot, the two girls lie on the couch with their long hair flowing down to the carpet. Lex strokes himself off above them before spritzing their faces with his sperm. Then they suck him.
Two other European girls (Stanna and Caroline) are managed by Jordan who locates his porn talent agency in Budapest, Hungary. For the second scene of the day, Pat "Bart" Myne and a European guy take on Caroline. The European has trouble staying erect, so Chuck pulls him from the scene. Bart has no trouble staying hard, pouring on an hour-long nasty scene filled with yelps, instructions, spitting and dirty talk while pounding Caroline in seven different positions, including three different anal positions.
"Take it in the ass," yells Pat. "Take it all the way... Oh yeah..."
Blonde Hungarian Caroline does ass to mouth several times (taking Pat's dick out of her ass and sucking on it) on the instruction of director Chuck Martino. She objects to Pat coming in her mouth because it'd make her gag. Instead he pops on her mouth and lower face.
After cleaning up, Pat munches on a chicken breast. "Some days you know you're going to have a good scene," says the short sturdy tattood husband of Shelby Myne. "You get in a zone...I was on my back much of the time today, and sometimes I get soft... Not today.
"I wish I could've talked with her [Caroline, the Hungarian]. I had to be more physical than normal. I had to physically put her where I wanted. I've never even seen this girl before.
"I like working with European girls. Most of the ones that come over here are beautiful, so you know you're going to work with a hottie. Caroline was definitely a hottie. She was toned and thick. I don't like those little skinny girls. I want to know that they're f---ing me back. You could feel her when she started pushing and moving and grinding. I buried my dick in her ass no problem. All the way. When I was on my back and she was on top, she made it [Pat's cock] disappear. I was literally balls deep in her ass. She took it like a f---ing hero. I like girls like that. Some girls squirm, 'oh, don't move, don't move... Stop.' Thirty seconds later, 'that's enough.' That's no fun for the guy either. When you get a girl like that, it's literally a pain in the ass. But when you get a girl who likes it in her ass, that's so much easier."
Pat and Shelby Myne have each appeared in about 100 videos. While Shelby's been pumping since the summer of 1997, Pat only began in the Spring of 1998. "I started doing a few scenes with Shelby. I was too afraid to work with anyone else. I had trouble my first couple of scenes. But it was good that I started with her [wife Shelby] because it allowed me to get comfortable working on a set with ten people around. It's almost impossible for a guy to get started unless he has a girl who'll work with him. My phone started ringing and I've been doing 15-20 scenes a month. This is my tenth scene in eight days. I have two scenes booked for tomorrow [1/25/99]. I don't get a day off until Thursday [1/28].
"Shelby and I each work with other people. We've been together five years and we're secure with ourselves. Sometimes your mind plays games with you, but we've been doing this for a long time and it's never been a problem. This is just a job. We don't live in the Valley. We live in Orange County. We're away from the [porn] scene. We have our separate life. We do our job here and then go home and take care of our dogs. I think it is important to separate the career from the porno lifestyle. That's cool but it's [porno life] is not for us.
"A girl I grew up with introduced us to the adult business. I've known her since I was ten years old... She (Krysta Maze) married my best friend in high school. She was so conservative growing up, then she told us she was doing movies. We were each working fulltime jobs... Krysta too Shelby on a shoot. We talked about it for six months and decided to give it a try. Krysta had retired by the time we started. We met some nice people [in porno]... We found out that it [porno] isn't like you think. I think the general public has a misconception about the adult industry. We were surprised. We've made lots of friends in this business and we'll be doing it for a while.
"I work several days a month for All Good Video, Metro and Sin City. Shelby is under a non-exclusive contract with All Good Video. She has to work a certain number of days a month for All Good, then she's allowed to work for other companies. But she's only allowed to promote All Good Video. She signed for AGV at the East Coast Video Show in Atlantic City and at the CES in Las Vegas."
Former porn star Shelby Stevens does the make-up for Sunday's Philmore Butts shoot. She retired in early 1997, a few months after the death of her friend Alex Jordan who brought Shelby into porn. Now a wife and mother, Shelby does not strip in clubs and does not like to be away from her baby for more than a few hours. A strong advocate of condoms and safe sex, Shelby mainly works for Brad Willis Armstrong and Wicked Pictures. Today's Philmore Butts video uses no condoms.
I schmooze in Rob's office with Alec "Cannibal" Metro, so named for his accidental biting off of part of Nancy Vee's pussy in a 1/6/99 scene at Rob's studio. Usually Alec plays nice guy roles such as cops, lawyers and rich men. "Since then [the Vee incident] I've had four psychotic roles," says Alec. "Look for me in Dream Master (shot over the weekend) from Sin City director Michael Raven. "I play Sebastien, a sex-crazed devil."
Luke to Alec: "Who did you bang?"
Rob: "That's how you talk now, Luke? Who did you BANG? What happened to you? Alec, who did you make love to?"
Alec: "One sex scene with two girls - Sydney Steele and Myra Divine."
Luke: "When are you going to marry your girlfriend Raylene and make an honest woman out of her?"
Alec: "She'd never marry a pig like me. I'm going to be in this business for life."
Rob's studio has been a place of trouble this year for Alec. A few days before the Vee incident, Metro almost got in a fight here. A week after CES, Alec was arrested along with Sylvia Saint when police stopping by Rob's studio saw sex through a window. Metro had to pay off a warrant before he was released. Today's (1/24/99) shoot was delayed after Metro, who'd been hanging around the set most of the day, had to run home for his HIV test (about the third time he's forgotten this paperwork in the last two weeks).
Luke perceives Sin City as a company with a long history of turmoil. Every few months it appears that owner David Sturman cleans house.
Regan Senter writes:
"There have been so many come and go agents - managers...
Let us see if Damien Michaels is around strong two years from today.
If he is, he deserves respect. My attitude is wait and see, time will
tell. I personally have nothing against him OR for him and never did
except one thing. I don't believe in him fraternizing and dating the
female talent, and I told him that when he worked for Rob. Having sex
is no big deal, it's the personal relationships that are in NO way conducive
or profitable to the business.
"Jim South stated on a documentry that his son socializes with
the girls
I feel this is wrong. Luke you said South has seen his day, well is
that called the fall of Rome when the barbarians took over or better
still
The book of Revelation when Babylon has fallen (Please read it)?
"The Adult Industry is mainly in the greater Los Angeles area so
perhaps you are forgetting one of the most important things - TALENT
LOYALTY to who represents them in the biz and to respect the integrity
of the source without any time limit.
"If I am a Catholic, I don't think praying to Allah in a Mosque
and saying
"its ok, all rivers flow into the same Ocean." Wrong, and
then notwithstanding that many of the talent have signed paper work/
contracts agreements etc., and the talent, the produces and even other
agents and managers should respect that, as it could be turned around.
'Oh, I don't honor your model release, your IDs, your HIV test or your
production. It is not my habit to GTT (grand theft talent) however if
someone else's talent comes to me and they are worthwhile, sure I'll
sign them up.
"There is no way in hell that Damion has 200 girls but hey it's
a good number, wanna buy the Brooklyn bridge? Damien does deserve a
chance to try. If Damien crashes it will probably be related to a personal
relationship in the industry."
Eltonfan writes on RAME: "The male performers listed below just
do not understand that their time is up and they should move on:
"1. Steve Drake: Steve -- I'm sorry steve... You're just too old.
I wish
you much success in your private life and I've heard that you are a
very nice person. However you should have hung up the condomns five
years ago and let the fresh meat take over.
"2. Herschel Savage: Hershel -- The biggest mistake you ever made
was to come back from retirement. You have no place in the industry
at this time or any time in the future. In the recent scenes where I
have seen you, you look confused and dazed and you're letting the girls
do all the work. Seeing a girl have sex with you is like seeing a girl
have sex with a zombie.
"3. Rod Fontana: Rod -- It seems that the older you get, the uglier
you get. You are so ugly that you make Ed Powers look like Tom Cruise.
Seeing an ugly old fart like you sucking the toes of a 20 year old girl
is so sickening that you even nauseate the most addicted foot fetishist.
"4. I think that it is about time for Tony Tedeschi to go find
another career.
He looks so stupid with that sheep dog like hair cut of his. He also
treats
women like whores with rough style. And the bottom line is that most
women are very turned offf by him. I cannot imagine how this dog face
has lasted so long with all the talent that is out there.
The industry should be reserved for the studs like Frank Towers, Billy
Glide, and Peter North."
Maestro: "I've spoken with Mr. Tedeschi on several occasions--twice during the CES weekend--and have always found him to be an enjoyable, courteous, yet somewhat opinionated, conversationalist. And maybe it has something to do with age--attending high school during the late 60's/early 70's-- but I like his haircut and find him rather attractive. I'm assuming your criticism of his treatment of women is in reference to his video performances. Doesn't that have more to do with the wishes of the directors?"
Grouchy: "I would personally like to thank Rob Black for placing Tiffany Mynx at the end of his "Cock Smokers" tape. The scene features the lovely Mrs. Mynx sucking cock like her life depended on it, then four guys dropping their loads in her mouth and on her face."
Pat Riley speculates on RAME about the causes of HIV infection within
the porn industry: "IV drugs and unprotected anal sex while hooking
are far more likely explanations for most of these girls [than the girls
picking it up from industry sex].
Industry shill Luke F-rd: "I suspect few of these girls give
unprotected anal sex to johns. I'd expect most, if not all, would insist
on condoms [in prostitution]."
Riley: "Given the lack of competence of the industry girls, I suspect
lots of them are quite willing to take what they may see as little risk.
I base this on the comments such as those made by people such as your
"leading porner" and earlier statements by similar people
plus what I see in series like Black Street Hookers.
"I'm well aware that the majority (but not all) of the girls in
BSH are
porn stars but from their familiarity with the procedures involved
they don't sound like they're acting--very good acting is not
something I'd be likely to believe--and many of the scenes go along
the lines of:
Hooker: Only with a condom.
TT: Awgh. I hate condoms. How about an extra $100?
Hooker: OK.
"Plus of course Jordan McKnight admitted to lots of unprotected
anal
sex with johns. Don't forget this is a very complex disease and all
of the obvious means of transmission are fraught with moral and/or legal
overtones. If the girl gets the idea that you acquire the disease if
you're gay
or use intravenous drugs is she necessarily going to make the connection
that the "gay" part is because of the receptive anal intercourse
and that women engaging in this with an HIV+ person are just as much
at risk?
"She probably hears the standard bleating from the no risk whatsoever
people that any sort of sex can transmit the virus but then she sees
her girlfriends/fellow hookers doing just fine having unprotected sex
with their customers and says "Why am I missing out on the money"
while failing to make the connection that the g/f's are not engaging
in anal sex."
Scipio writes on RAME about the highly respected, beyond-reproach AVN Awards: "I think the Steph/Dough thing [AVN accidentally gave the award for Best Sex Scene - Film to Stephanie Swift and Jon Dough even though Dough did not appear. Award was supposed to go to Steph and Mickey G, but AVN publisher Paul Fishbein screwed up.] sounds like a little more than a "miscue". Looks like Steph won't be winning much more after opening her mouth there, eh?"
Dirty Bob, AVN reviewer: "Trading blow jobs for votes? Whoever makes statements like this is living in a dream world. Sorry, folks."
Scipio: "The porn world is immune to corruption of any kind, and graft or buying votes just wouldn't, couldn't happen. Especially when you consider all the upstanding people involved. Not like those scummy Olympics. Plenty of bribes there, but not in the fine, upstanding porn world.
"Now, I'm sure that some precentage of the awards come through on merit alone, but to say that the whole process is beyond reproach? Blowjob bribes - only - a fantasy world idea? Please."
