Jim South held a special talent call for John Leslie Thursday, with 50 leading females. And it was slim pickings for John, as most of the best looking girls insist on condoms. Jerome Tanner and Jim Holliday were around.
The Friday night edition of Entertainment Tonight profiled Shauna Grant. "The crux of the piece was: did she commit suicide or did her drug dealer boyfriend kill her because he thought she was going to tell of his drug connection. They quoted a detective as saying that the police believe it was a simple suicide because she was an unhappy drug user. Her mom wants an answer." (RAME)
Two weeks ago, ET did Savannah. Around the end of March, the Fox Files TV program examines porn.
From the 5/99 issue of Swank's Video World edited by Paul Gambino: "Luke F-rd, the dubious chronicler to the adult film industry, you'll probably remember him as the guy who broke last year's story that five adult actresses tested [positive] for the AIDS virus, has penned another sensational piece of work A History of X, an expose-style book being published by Prometheus Books. Ford defends his reputation as a whistle-blower and rat of the porn industry with his possibly delusional stance of educating and protecting those associated with the adult industry. Claiming to be an avid defender of the First Amendment, in A History of X, the Los Angeles based investigative journalist covers drug abuse, the Mafia, phone sex, cable television, money, child porn, snuff porn, strip clubs, and the legality and illegality of porn in general."
Swank and Genesis are among the few porn magazines with serious editorial content.
...........................................................
Luke received 2/26 at 3PM this email from Vivid Video (which Vivid PR man David Schlesinger told me Monday was a mistake by a new employee). Ara@webmagic.net writes under the heading "l-keford.com": "I am writing from Vivid Entertainment. I read your outline on Vivid Video, pretty cool. However you can not use "VIVID" to submit your site to search engines. You must remove the search querry, and submit it in another key word other than "VIVID". This is just a warning of the major "sweep" of legal actions the company will be taking against such copyright infringements. Thank You..Pleas write bak if you have any questions."
Brian Kushner replies: "Are they [Vivd Video] out of their f---ing minds. They don't have a leg to stand on here.You are not infringing on their copyrights or trademark or intellectual property rights by using VIVID in a search engine keyword. They would get laughed out of court in a second."
Brad Williams, RAME moderator, writes: "Just as VIVID has no clue about how to make "couples porn," they don't know jack-s--- about Internet search-engines or indexes, IF this is all a legit e-mail from them to you.
"They have ZERO "proof" (and your source code actually disproves their idiotic theory) of you using "VIVID" as a keyword submission to any engine or index, or even using it in a meta-tag.
"Tell them to know their role and shut their mouth. Yes, some companies are indeed filing suits and threatening suits against pornsters and others for using copyrighted/trademarked brands/names as keyword submissions to engines/"indices," but they can't even claim that here. Just because some clueless dips--- at VIVID typed in "VIVID" and your site came up somewhere in some search engine isn't any proof at all. It only proves that search engine and robots hone-in more so on your site than VIVID'S because of your fair use of the name "Vivid.""
Director Jim Gunn of www.jimgunn.com writes: "Luke, these guys at Vivid are giving you more credit than you deserve for deviousness. Obviously they are somewhat ignorant of how search engines work. I looked at the source code on your page and the utter lack of a descripton meta tag or any keywords is, if anything an oversight on your part. Just to explain to you, there are many ways to try to get people looking for certain key phrases to hit your site. Using popular trademarks, brand names and other's peoples copyrighted keywords is one way to do this. For example- if Adidas' web page had repeated use of the key word "Nike" in the meta tags that would conceivably fool the search engines and therefore the people looking for Nike info. into going to the Adidas page. In that case Nike would have grounds to sue and stop that deceptive use of their trademarked name and there has been legal precedent established on this basis in several lawsuits over the last couple of years. [The law here is ever changing, so don't take this as legal advice]
HOWEVER, you have not done this, apparently "Vivid", only comes up on your web page prominently because of the text in your pages, of which you have a lot of. By analogy, it works the same for a search for my professional name "Jim Gunn" (see below):
It's funny, this is a perfect example of three different cases in an altavista search:
Hit number one in altavista for the phrase "Jim Gunn" is a page where you wrote about me on your site.
1. Jim Gunn
Index News
Luke F-rd Found a Mistake? Erotic Box Office Club
Pix Amateurotica
Cybererotica Young Girls Erotic Paradise
Centerfolds
Ultimate Hardcore...
URL: www.l-keford.com/d29.html
Last modified
19-Nov-98 - page size 7K - in English [ Translate]
Hit number
two is my own web page which I submitted to altavista and all
the other search
engines also.
2. Jim Gunn
Jim Gunn Productions,
the home page of adult video director Jim
Gunn URL: www.jimgunn.com/
Last modified 9-Feb-99 - page size 3K - in
English [ Translate
]
Hit number
three is a classic example of someone trying to pull a fast
one, something
like what Vivid accuses you of. This is some avs page
that is trying
to use my name to draw traffic to their lame group of
commercial
web pages by repeatedly using "Jim Gunn" in the text of the
page. I just
noticed it and did some detective work and called up and
asked one of
the principals to delete that page as it was unfairly
sucking away
potential traffic to my site. You see, there is no
legitimate
usage of my name here because there is no actual info. about
Jim Gunn, only
a repeated use of the keyword "Jim Gunn" as a ploy to
attract visitors
to their own page and consequently away from mine.
3. Jim Gunn.
Click here now.
Jim Gunn. *Click/here/to
enter/now. *Click here Jim Gunn. Jim Gunn
nude. This
is a doorway page created to help you find our Web site. Click on the
links..
URL: jim-gunn.x-ticket.com/Jim-Gunn.htm
Last modified
20-Feb-99 - page size 3K - in English [ Translate]
So, I would
tell them to drop dead, you didn't really do anything wrong
that I can
see, that is, unless they just object to you on general
principles.
...........................................................
Rodger Jacobs resigned today from nationally syndicated sister publications NEW RAVE and DIRTY after spending the last ten months as editor-in-chief and contributing writer to the fledgling adult magazines.
"The money simply isn't there to hold my interest any longer," Jacobs commented late this afternoon after tendering his resignation via telephone to NEW RAVE manager Yoram Dahan, formerly of Adult Video News. Aside from contributing numerous articles to SWANK, GENESIS, HUSTLER, and other publications, Jacobs has also worked as a screenwriter to the adult film and video industry under the pseudonym Martin Brimmer, amassing over 200 credits and an A.V.N. award this year for Best Screenplay for the Nic Cramer film LOOKER from Pleasure Productions.
...........................................................
Veteran porn star turned Florence Nightingale, Sharon Mitchell, says her non-profit group AIM (818-981-5681) has switched blood processing labs to one she won't name. Mitch said Tuesday that AIM's former lab Quest Nichols (800-553-5445) had been unable to process PCRs for several days (between 4-10), leaving 36 performers in the lurch waiting for their HIV test results.
A source: "There was never a problem with the lab. AIM owes Quest far more than $ 40,000. There is also a history of shell game going on there, and that's why it went on for so long."
AIM's new lab gives a 24 hour turnaround five days a week on the PCR DNA test for HIV (the industry standard HIV test), says Sharon, as opposed to the four day wait for results from Quest.
Competing blood lab North Hollywood (818-760-4500) also uses Quest Nichols but when Mitchell phoned N.H. to offer a recommendation for a replacement, they were not interested in her help.
Rob Spallone says: "Sharon Mitchell, don't bother calling the North Hollywood clinic no more. Sharon and AIM owe Quest Nichols $40,000. That's why they don't use Quest Nichols no more. [AIM denies this assertion.] At the N.H. clinic, we'll run our business the way we want to, we'll run it like a real business. She should lower prices and stop robbing everybody."
Dr. Rosa Lepley at the North Hollywood clinic (aligned with Spallone who hates Mitchell) said Thursday that Quest Nichols has processed PCR DNA tests for HIV on schedule for the past few weeks, contrary to what Mitchell asserted Tuesday. Spallone says that Quest Nichols stopped processing blood from AIM because AIM owes Quest about $40,000.
"Spallone needs to run his own business," Mitch said Thursday afternoon after a cigarette break. Since the trouble with Quest, she's resumed smoking.
"I'm not at liberty to say when I was talking to Speciality Labs what North Hollywood's [the Dr. James Bonura owned clinic that Spallone supports] balance is," said Sharon. "I know it is a very large balance. And they owe money to Speciality. But if I start throwing stones like that... And besides, we take care of our billing. Our doors are open and we're doing fine.
"I don't want to comment on that [AIM's bill with Quest Nichols]. Because I know how much he owes his [Rob Spallone's] lab and I don't think it is fair of me... I'd rather talk about the positive stuff, and I don't want to throw stones at him [Spallone]. We're doing really good."
Quest Nichols has not returned Luke's phone calls.
Mitch says that about half of the performers left in the lurch have retested. "Blood that is less than seven days old [returned from Quest] I will send off to the new lab," said Sharon Thursday afternoon.
"Impossible," replied Spallone by phone Thursday afternoon. "Matt Jade goes to AIM to get a test. She says she sent the blood to Quest and they were down. No way. Impossible. She never sent them the blood. I know that for a fact. You don't be friends with her, Luke. Bury her now. And don't write that I said that or you and me will have a fight at the bottom of the pool. Goodbye."
A source:
"I saw Sharon's comments that any blood less than 7 days old,
and returned
by Quest, will be sent to the new lab. Luke, why didn't you
catch that?
Blood returned by Nichols? First, that couldn't happen.
Second, what
kind of reliable test would that blood give? Don't you
think there
is a chance of contamination?"
Spallone says Mitchell has been caught in a seeming lie over Quest Nichols processing problems. He predicts AIM's rapid demise.
"Don't be so nice to her [Mitch]," Spallone thundered to Luke by phone Thursday afternoon. "Quest is not releasing the 36 talent tests because she owes them $40,000. She can not get those results because they're [Quest] is not giving it to her.
"You can call up Dr. Lepley right now and ask if Quest has been down. She'll tell you no. You can call up Quest Labs and ask them if they've been down. They'll tell you no. And when they tell you that what Mitchell said is false, you better f---ing print that she's a lying cocksucker. That Rob helped you and you proved it."
AIM should receive their non-profit status from the government in a few weeks, according to Mitchell. "That's bulls---," says Spallone. "She never filed for a 501. All those people who've donated money to her aren't going to get a tax write-off because she's never filed for a 501 [for non-profit status]. You know Russ Hampshire [VCA owner] ain't giving her anymore money.
"I ain't giving you any more scoop, Luke, because you're too nice to that Sharon Mitchell. She's a phoney cunt. You can only come to my shoot on Sunday if I like what you write today. Goodbye."
Luke: "Ok Rob. You are 100% right."
Sharon Mitchell at 5PM, Friday, responded in a laughing jovial manner: "That Rob Spallone is something else. He should come to AIM for some stress-management classes. I love that little f---er anyway...
"You [Luke] can come in and look at our eight-month old application for 501 non-profit status and our non-profit number for our clients who need to write off their [AIM] expenses...
"We retested everybody. We got our blood samples back today [from Quest Nichols] but they were too old to use. So everyone will have to retest with our new lab. Except for Patrick Collins who is in Germany and who felt the brunt of this [lab problems] in a bad way..."
...........................................................
Luke attended the New Rave partyWednesday night at the Deja Vu Club in Beverly Hills at 424 N. Beverly Dr.. The crowd included Toshi and Julie Gold (owners of Astral Ocean), Spice VP Andrew Trentacosta, Head of home video for Playboy Barry Leshtz, New Rave publisher Tabitha Stevens (the most energetic dancer of the night) and her husband Don Osterholt, Don's business partner Jeff, dashing Isareli pornographer Simon Elimelech (formerly of Factory Home Video) of Silver Star Entertainment (which sells most of its features to Playboy), and other leading porners.
The Beverly Hills Deja Vu club is owned by the Deja Vu chain which is owned by Harry Mohney, and is fighting zoning restrictions by Beverly Hills City. There are no other strip joints in the city. Girls can only go topless, and then no one is allowed within six feet. Porn girls Farrah and Nakita Kash once danced there. Most of the strippers look better than most porn girls though their performances Thursday night tended to be languid.
Brandon "Dakota" Kelley, a seven year veteran of the strip club business who's known Harry Mohney since his days in Michigan, manages the Beverly Hills Deja Vu.
I sit with Tabitha and Don, who's changed dramatically in his two years in porn. His hair is bleach blond on top. He now wears an earring and sports large blue-red tattoos on his broad shoulders.
Don's company www.atlasads.com runs internet sites for such porn girls as Janine, Rocky Roads, Nikki Tyler, Christy Canyon, Sana Fey, Melanie Stone, Victoria Paris and the company Elegant Angel.
Tabitha and Don have been married less than a year and Don is still having to adjust to being married to a porn star. Tabitha says she practices safe sex on her shoots and always insists that her male partners wear condoms. She's done only two anal scenes in her four year career.
In July, Don flies to Rio de Janiero to fight in the World Championships of Jujitsu, a grappling form of martial arts. "A submission fight style," explains Don, "with joint manipulation..."
Tabitha: "I taught him everything he knows."
Don: "We practice nightly. I've been doing this for years. I've had some fights, some good..."
The DJ announces to the patrons that if you tip the girls stripping, and put them in a good mood, they will put you in a good mood. Lap dances cost $10 each.
Simon Elimelech: "We have just released the first DVD [Sex Lies of the President] in the adult business with digital surround sound. It plays on Playboy this month. We're building a huge web site for next month, www.dvdboom.com."
Luke talked with Spice's Andrew Trentacosta, who's serving as a consultant to Playboy during its takeover of Spice. Then he wants to concentrate on producing of porn features. "I'm not interested in shooting Playmates...T&A stuff. I want to shoot sex."
After ten years in Programming for the Los Angeles PBS station KCET, Trentacosta started (at age 30) at ON-TV in New York 1979, the first cable channel in America to develop softcore programming. Then he worked at Playboy cable TV from 1986-93.
Trentacosta next developed and ran the Adam and Eve channel (for its owner VCA and Adam and Eve) until it was taken over by Spice in 1995. Andrew then worked for Spice until it was bought out by Playboy in 1998. Trentacosta now works as a consultant for Playboy during the transition.
"Everybody I've worked for has made money," says Andrew. "Playboy made money while I was there because we made it a Pay-Per-View channel. It used to be pay [a set monthly rate instead of paying for blocks of programming at, say, three hours a time] which is not a good idea."
Luke: "I heard that cable TV companies discriminated against interracial programming?"
Andrew: "That's bulls---. Never. Maybe twenty years. There was a rumor that we didn't want Ron Jeremy on Spice. BS. It's all marketing. You stir up the pot. People say, 'Is this true?' You say, 'No, but you said our name and we like that.' We were going to work with Sean Michaels. He wanted to make love stories, not gangbanger stuff."
Luke: "The boundaries are expanding for what you can show on cable TV."
Andrew: "Because we pushed it gently. Cable is a conservative business. We could never even show soft penises before. We went to the lawyer and said why not. He said, we don't know, it might be considered obscenity. We decided to try it. No problem. We could never show pussy but we tried it. No problem. If you do it too fast, it scares the citizens.
"I wrote the guidelines for Playboy. The lawyers and National Cable TV Association checked them and we live by them. That keeps everybody happy and the money rolls in. The cable companies make all the money because they own the store. We have to get in their store. That's the game.
"Anybody can start a channel. I've started five. But to get into the cable universe is hard. When I started Adam and Eve, I hired the best sales people, which is the key. It doesn't matter what you're selling. It's a good product and you'll make a lot of money. So you go, let's talk. We don't say, 'we're going to show pussies. We're going to show people f---ing.' No. If you want to make a lot of money, you trust us and we'll deliver the product. Playboy has great sales people. TeN hired three of Spice's best sales guys...
"We show no violence. Showtime shows more than we do. And no abuse of women. Only playful bondage. No playing underage.
"Adam and Eve is edgier than Spice, with more black product, more gonzo... We wanted people to think that Adam and Eve and Spice were competitors, when they both were owned by the same company [since 1997]. 'Oh, let's watch the nastier stuff tonight. Let's watch Adam & Eve.'"
Trentacosta says that at most, a porn company will earn a third of its total revenue from a tape from its sale to cable TV. Conquest (world-wide license) sold to Spice for about $20,000. "Home video is still their [porn companies] bread and butter."
Spice Hot (harder material) started in 1997 "and was a hit from the beginning." Vivid now owns Spice Hot (which appears in 4-5 million homes). "It's a hard sell. Some [cable systems] only put it on late at night. Others want to wait. It's mainly in the smaller markets, guys who don't care [about the legal risks], they just wnat the money. Buy rates triple when put on Spice Hot.
"People are now used to $75-80 a month cable bills. There's a whole generation that grew up paying for television. Sometimes they'll pay $50-$60 for a fight that may go two rounds.
"People like Vivid, VCA understand what we [cable TV] need. Thomas Paine is a filmmaker and makes great movies... Paul Thomas. I brought him into Playboy and got it right. He knew exactly what worked. He's been making movies for Playboy for over ten years. Hef [Playboy founder Hugh Hefner] loves his stuff. Hef watches a lot. He'd call, he liked the older ones, and ask for us to schedule Misty Beethoven.
"We run few classics on Spice. We found a better response to the newer product. The classics weren't shot for cable and so you end up chopping the s--- out of them. And there aren't many classics.
"Spice wants sex. They [Spice viewers] don't want talk shows or comedy... It's a movie channel. And mainly American [product]. They want to see Jeanna and Nina and Missy... Playboy should be just a basic channel that everybody could watch but America is not ready for that yet.
"We've [porn cable] tried to keep in step with the evolving sexuality of our country. People are more comfortable with stuff [porn]. There's an understanding, if you don't like it, don't look at it.
"Spice tried to get into Europe but it is tough. Techonologically, they're ten years behind us. We're in some parts of Latin America. Playboy is great worldwide, and they'll move Spice out there."
Luke: "I'd think it'd be in the consumers' interest for there to be more competition?"
Andrew: "Of course, but when you're a company, you don't want competition. That's why Showtime and TeN exist...
"There are about ten hardcore channels available on the big satellite dish and we [Spice] own five of them. New Frontier has four. But there are only two million big dishes out there anymore. It's a dying business. Because of the little dish [Direct TV]."
Trentacosta produced 13 porn features in 1998 for Spice. He sold the hardcore version to Sin City. Mark Gallagher's considering buying the other dozen. Mike Horner directed three of them, Melissa Monet made three, veteran Jack Genero came out of retirement to direct three, Roy Karch made one as did Mr. Marcus (his first).
Andrew: "We made a movie with every English person in the business - Nici Sterling and her husband Wylde Oscar, Roxanne Hall... And we used Rebecca Lord [from France] because she's popular in England. We made a movie here that looked like it was made in England by English people and it killed in England.
"We still have 12 titles that we haven't sold yet.
"I know all the people [who are important in porn]. I've tried to never burn any bridges. I've never f---ed anybody over. I've always showed respect to people. And it comes back. That's the way I like to be treated.
"I knew Sean Ricks when he was an idiot. He's getting smarter every today. Chuck Martino. He came to me and said, 'I want to make real movies.' I said to him, 'I think you can make real movies, not the s--- you've been making.' He's making real movies now and every time I see him, he says, 'you believed in me and I appreciate that now.' Sean's girlfriend heads programming for Spice. She starts at Playboy fulltime Monday.
"Chuck made a bunch of movies for me. He needed to grow up a little and he's doing that. And he needed somebody to say no to him, and I said no to him a lot, and he respected that.
"Christie [Hefner, head of Playboy Inc] doesn't get involved in the programming. She's a business person. Just like the magazine. I bet she doesn't even look at the magazine, but she'll tell you how many pages of ads they sold last month. Whereas Hef, he looks at every page and every girl. He still picks the girls. He's the best. He's a great man. I love working for him. He's the best boss I ever had. And a legend.
"I read AVN from cover to cover. I know Paul [Fishbein, publisher] from way back. [Paul's wife] Kymberly helped us start the Adam @ Eve channel [co-owned by Russ Hampshire's VCA and Phil Harvey's Adam @ Eve.] She was our publicist... She was married to a musician at the time. My wife and I used to go out on a double date with them. Next thing I know she says 'I'm leaving him.' Fishbein said to me, 'Do you think she'd like to go out with me?' I said, 'absolutely, you're a nice guy.' Next thing you know, they live by me...
"I've been married 25 years. My wife is fine with this [Andrew's role in porn]. So long as I bring home a check... She did the make-up on our [Spice] 13 movies. I wanted a softer look, without the fake eyelashes...
"I've never played around with talent. I try to maintain a certain persona... And that wouldn't be part of it. I'm a businessman. I have fun. PT [Paul Thomas] and I were close friends for years and he's the craziest guy I ever knew. Many of the girls are friends. Montana Gunn...she's done me a lot of favors at parties for friends of mine. I've known Sharon Kane for years. And Veronica Hart worked for us at Adam and Eve channel.
"It's all marketing. Marketing is magic. We used to say that we had the best looking women on Adam @ Eve and that all the girls on Playboy and Spice were ugly. It was the same 50 girls. If you say it enough, it becomes the truth. If you say enough 'TeN's f---ed up,' soon people will be saying, 'TeN's f---ed up.'
"Steve Hirsch [Vivid Video owner] is a marketing genius. The Vivid Girls are worth a million dollars. And Steve Orenstein of Wicked with Jenna [Jameson]. She looks like Frankenstein but it's a beautiful job [of marketing]. Same with Max [Hardcore]. He says, 'I'm the dirtiest, filthiest motherf---er in the world.' And people go, 'yeah, that's right.'
"Right now we are saying that 'Playboy and Spice are going to be the strongest adult entertainment package available in the world on television.' And we're going to say it and say it and say it. And eventually, all over the world, people are going to say 'Playboy and Spice are the strongest erotic package in the world.'
"We're like Napoleon. We've got to keep grabbing more territory. We've got to be everywhere.
"Jay Leno loves us. He does Spice jokes all the time. The Nanny [TV show] did three Spice jokes in one season. Howard Stern loves us because we deliver. He says 'we need this,' [and Spice replies] 'Yes sir, Mr. Stern.' You can't buy that kind of publicity.
"It's a pain to shoot in Pasadena. They assign a guy to monitor your shoot. We're shooting in a gazebo and the girl gets naked, and the guy stops it. 'Everybody has to be clothed.' So we shot as much as we could and then segued into the house. Then we had to pay him. We never went back to Pasadena. Hardly anybody does. The lady who owned the mansion said 'they do this a lot. Even with mainstream.' And so no one shoots there anymore. And then the cops came around and said 'are all these girls of age?' And I looked at them and said, 'Do I look like an idiot to you? I'm the Vice-President of Spice. We've triple-checked everybody.' Well, we want to watch. They're lookie-loos. There's no crime in Pasadena today, so you're going to hang around our set?
"We had no alcohol or drug problems on any of our [Spice] sets. All the girls showed up on time. We didn't hire Al [Peter North who is notorious for showing up late]. That was one of his retirement phases."
Luke: "Do you show gay stuff on Spice?"
Andrew: "No. America is not ready for that on cable. They do it on satellite. They're not even that keen on girl-girl, and that it wasn't what they thought it was."
...........................................................
Sin City's head of production, Chuck Martino, responds to Director James DiGiorgio: "Hey Jim, you fat f---. Why don't you spend less time talking about me, and my past, and more time in the gym? And after you lose 200 pounds from your fat ass, maybe you'll feel better about yourself and not have to talk s--- about me. And if you'd like to talk s--- about me, let's talk about the last year, particularly the last six months, when you haven't shot a Sin City movie, because your movies suck."
James DiGiorgio: "It took me a few minutes to figure out what s--- about you, Chuck, I've been talking about. I guess its those comments I made, (what, a month ago or more?) in response to your comments about me having a problem with you (or maybe it was the other way around) when you spoke to Luke about me on one of your shoots.
"In any event, it really doesn't matter. Now, you do have a problem
with
me. But first, back to this latest little trailer-park-trash outburst
you've
suddenly spewed. What could have triggered it? Crack? Coke? Your
Crystal Lite diet? (Hey! Maybe I'd lose some weight if I went on that
diet too!) No convenient women in sight to punch out? Or maybe it was
that comment made recently at Sin City by former New Rave editor, Jeff
Hickey: the one where he said he saw you and your sister on TV just
the
other night. You know, your sister: Marie Osmond? I heard you didn't
take that joke too well. I mean, I guess I did refer to those beaver
implants in your mouth with a Donnie Osmond comparison back when. Guess
it just triggered something....
But...It really doesn't matter. Now, you do have a problem with me.
And I truly appreciate your concern about me needing to get into shape.
In fact, I have a great idea. Why don't you come over and we'll work
out together. We'll paint EVERLAST across your forehead, and I'll use
it for a....
But...It really doesn't matter. Now, you do have a problem with me.
First, though, maybe you should deal with some of your other alleged
problems: maybe Like the J.B. thing, you know, how maybe you WERE served
by a U.S. Marshall for that court thing, but claimed you didn't know
about it till you got back from wherever it was you went. Or maybe
stiffing Lacy Street Studios on a large check for your Sin City shoot
there? (A little extra pocket money, huh, Chuck?) Or making good on
your comments about how Michael Raven is ripping off Sin City's owner
and how you'll be getting rid of him soon. Or how I was f---ing Sin
City on my editing fees because Michael Raven was charging so much less,
and how when I contradicted you, you asked if I was calling you a liar?
Well, I asked Michael Raven, and A) you are a f---ing liar; and B)
Michael says you're a f---ing liar as well. Or maybe that stuff about
how Nikki Lynn is the biggest f---ing waste of money at Sin City and
how
f---ed-up the company's owner was to sign a contract with her (a Miss
Nude International, Miss Nevada Fitness, and super-star feature dancer,
and magazine layout and covergirl). Or how the Sin City receptionist
(hired to replace Shay when she left you, and her job as both Sin City
receptionist and contract girl --Boy, what a job description that is!
Answer phones and f---ing on camera) was suddenly fired for some odd
reason or another, and the very next working day, Shay is back answering
the phones at the receptionist's desk (and presumably, f---ing on
camera). Maybe the fired receptionist didn't want to do the f---ing
part, huh? Or maybe Shay helps you keep track of whose talking to who
at
the office. Or maybe how you it's said you double-dip scenes and
locations and talent to sell scenes to companies other than the company
who hired (and funded you) to shoot for them. And, well, should I go
on? Because...
...It really doesn't matter. Now, you do have a problem with me.
Now, if anything I've said here has really upset you, please note that:
A) you know where my office is, and I often work late at night....often
alone; B) you also know where my house is, and I do live alone; and
C)
I'd be happy to come and see you whenever you'd like. In fact, maybe
I
won't wait for a formal invitation.
PS: I apologize to all you readers who so often have to put up with
the
childish rantings (like this one) of all us insecure, dysfunctional,
mal-adjusted, silly little pornographers.
A Porner to Chuck Martino: If Jim DiGiorgio's movies "suck," why was he allowed to produce so many of them for Sin City, and for so long? What does that say about David Sturman and Sin City's management team? And thanks for warning all us buyers about those flicks; I suppose thanks to you, we can save our money by not purchasing any existing DiGiorgio titles from Sin City.
Chuck Martino replies: "Michael Raven is doing a great job. He does his own movies. Raven is not ripping off David, because I write the checks. Jim, iyou're jealous of Raven because his movies and editing are so superior to yours."
Q. Why doesn't Chuck Martino like Nikki Lynn as a Sin City contract girl?
A. She won't do the phones at Sin City's reception desk.
Co-owner of Fallen Angel, Gigi Appleton, writes: "Hey Luke! I have
never written before but after cumming across your site tonight and
seeing the James D., M. Raven and C. Martino thang, I had to put my
fingers to keyboard. I have had the great good fortune to work with
all three of these talented people.
When I was lucky enough to work for Sin City, James was a great editor
and gifted filmmaker. His films were extremely marketable and incredibly
hot. Jim makes me laugh and I love him and his movies.
Michael Raven, also, is very talented with a new vision and look that
I think kicks ass. He is a gentleman of the highest order.
Chuck knows his Philmore movies sell and he also knows how to make movies.
So, I guess the question is- why the angst? All three are talented and
there is room for all of you as you all have a different niche anyway.
So make the movies for those of us that sell and watch them and keep
on doing your own thing.
...........................................................
Ginger Lynn writes on her site www.gingerlynn.com: "I am currently in negotiations with VCA regarding a possible come-back into the adult film industry. We are discussing a 3-6 picture deal. Please share with me your thoughts and comments, as well as any story ideas or possible "scenes" you would like to see me in."
A coughing, spluttering, sick Russ Hampshire (VCA owner), who's been racked by sinus problems since the CES, denies that AVN's Gene Ross has pictures of him "in compromising positions with farm animals."
Hampshire was sure that Luke had made up that quote and attributed it to Gene.
Russ also denies Gene's assertion that he, Russ, is a "pencil-necked geek."
Russ: "Do I look like a pencil-necked geek? I'm going to have to bust Gene's balls over that one."
Luke was given the following questions to ask Hampshire:
"I've heard that Ben Dover is switching to Wicked?"
Russ: "Not true. Wicked does own the foreign rights to some Ben Dover titles."
"I've heard that you're slashing budgets on your features. For instance, shoots that normally carried a budget of $40,000 was cut to $30,000."
Russ: "Not true."
As for the numerous questions about breast implants, Russ could not name anyone who looked better because of implants and he reiterated that VCA does not make referrals to plastic surgeons. Hampshire said he had no contacts in the dance business and he clarified some comments he made to me about a conversation he had with Chloe.
Russ would like Chloe to be a VCA contract girl, but that would mean she'd only make three or so movies a year. And as Chloe does not strip in clubs, and depends for her living on doing videos, she could not survive financially just doing a handful of movies a year as a VCA contract girl.
...........................................................
Luke stopped by Sharon Mitchell's AIM (Adult Industry Medicine) office Tuesday around noon. AIM will run fundraisers on the last Tuesday of every month at the Hollywood club Barfly. First one scheduled for March 30 will feature the www.porntorock.com people like Johnny Toxic, Nena Whett and Madison. next one - wrestling. "And then we ran out of ideas," laughed Mitchell.
"I'm getting together this week with Theresa Flynt and Larry Flynt Jr. to do a fundraiser at the Hustler Club on Sunset Blvd. A night on the strip with the stars and we'll auction off dinner dates with the girls."
Eleven porn companies pay AIM $150 a month to process and keep HIV records and to counsel employees who want to help. "It keeps everyone healthy and happy," says Mitch.
Sharon produced a shot-on-film documentary about porn personalities "Daddy Make Me A Star" which will appear for the first time at the Santa Barbara Film Festival beginning March 12. "Jeanna Fine, Nina Hartley, Ron Jeremy and myself and our director Lisa Rollins will make personal appearances," says Sharon. "We've even got footage from the Houston 500 in there. It took us 18 months to shoot."
Sharon shows me her Greenwing Macaw bird Boo from Brazil which used to belong to the late porn star Trinity Loren.
Mitch gives me an AIM calendar which is largely composed of nudie pics of porn girls. "Women menstruate every month, so they know they have to come in for an HIV test," says Mitch. "Men need a calendar. And we figured if we filled it with pictures of naked women, they'd look at it and remember to get tested."
I run into TJ Hart who shows off her new boyfriend Frank from Hungary, who's performed in Euro-porn for eight years.
At 2PM, I stop by Rob's shooting home Encino Hills and wake up a hung over Nancy Vee. I find out that David Christopher is shooting his second and final day of his latest Pussyman edition (Return of the College Sluts) at Rob's other shooting home in Woodland Hills. A tall, courteous gentleman, AVN's Julius Marx, a former TV critic for a daily newspaper in the midwest, is on his first porn set.
Collin Malone interviews various porn stars from Lauren Montgomery to Stryc9 to Inari Vachs to Temptress for a pilot HBO program The Sex Show, a light hearted look at the sex industry.
Vachs, a married bodybuilder, tells Malone about her sloppy blowjob technique: "If I know that someone really hates it [Vach's plentiful outpourings of saliva], I will try to suck it back in. Vince Voyeur is the most particular guy to give a blowjob. He hates to get his balls wet.
"My biggest pet peeve with the industry is that even the people in the industry have a negative opinion of the industry. The harest thing for me to deal with as an adult film star is that everyone outside the industry does not view it as I do. I think porno is awesome, great for women and men. It's freeing.
"I watched porno for years before I entered porn. After a 12 hour day at the office, and traffic for an hour-and-a-half... I'd go home, have a drink, and watch porno...
"The only thing I've done on camera that I had not done in my personal life first, was five men at once... I once did eight guys and I don't want to do more than that."
Colin: "We have eight people here right now..."
Inari: "I'm not ready...
"I would like to do more successful orgies [in her private life]... The best ones are spontaneous."
Colin: "Can we see you naked?"
Inari strips for the HBO camera.
"The only way I will get a boob job is if I have a child and they [her breasts] sag..."
Mark Spiegler aka Shylock produces for Christopher. A few months ago, Spiegler hired Christopher to direct Bikini Babes which received On the Set coverage from the 2/99 AVN. David thought Spiegler more than competent, and hired him to produce Pussyman. David walks in and out of the scenes, interacting with the talent.
Stryc9 drives up with her husband who works in the straight world. Yesterday she took Dave Hardman up her ass. Temptress comes by. She has never done anal on camera. "I don't want strangers looking up my asshole." Temptress now only performs with girls since she started a serious relationship with her boyfriend.
"I used to only keep my ass at home," laughs Stryc9 in her interview with Colin. "But six weeks into my stint in the business, I signed a contract with a company that did lots of anal (Extreme Associates). I'd done anal at home, it just wasn't something that I wanted to show the world. Then I got greedy and wanted a contract [which ran about $2000 a month for four scenes]."
Temptress laughs that if she was offered $5000 a scene, she'd do anal.
Stryc9 tells Colin that she and her boyfriend have incorporated girls into their private life but not other guys. Temptress prefers sex with guys. She's "gay for pay." Temptress and Stryc9 say they were sexually conservative in high school. Then they began stripping in clubs and thought "why not get into porn?"
Colin begs them into showing their breasts for the HBO camera.
Luke talks with black male performer Lexington Steel who measures 12 inches at full erection, seven inches around. In the biz since the end of 1997, he's appeared in 200 pornos. After an erratic start, he's risen to the top of the male ranks.
"I'd been doing some modeling in New York. That led to some adult layouts. That led to meeting a video producer. I shot for him a couple of times in Manhattan. Then I met Michael Raven at Sin City who brought me to Los Angeles in December 1997. By the beginning of February, I was working frequently. My first six months, I was erratic at best.
"After you fail with certain producers, they may not give you a second chance. But if a person likes you, he'll give you a second shot. And I've rarely f---ed up a second time."
At 7PM, Luke arrived at Claudio's home for dinner with the Italian expatriate, his wife Gina Rome and porner Axel Braun, the son of the legendary European director who now lives in Southern California, Lasse Braun.
Axel: "My father is an asshole. You mark my words."
On Sunday, 2/7/99, Axel Braun wrote via email to Luke: "Over the past 13 years I've been working with my father, Lasse Braun, on a number of projects in the adult business, before parting from him and starting on my own in 1997. Since then I've written, produced, directed, shot and edit features that got released through VCA (Sexcape, The Book of Lust) and In-X-Cess (Fleshlight). My latest productions, soon to be released through my own newborn production-distribution company (Oxygen Pictures), is called The G-Spot Chronicles. With this Vignette-style series, I prove something I've been researching for years: every woman ejaculates. While admitting without a doubt the enormous amount of things my father taught me about life and the X-rated business, this is something that I myself taught him (with no results whatsoever). So, since I read on your profile on him that he claims to be the guru of the G-Spot, I sadly have to tell you that he is a total fraud. As you can easily understand, the split between us was not very amicable, but that is not the point. The point is that it is not up to women to be capable to ejaculate through the stimulation of the G-Spot, but it is something that men have to learn how to do. And my dear dad doesn't know how to. Well, Luke, I'll be glad to invite you on the set of my next installment of "The G-Spot Chronicles" so that I can show you some REAL squirting, with no tricks."
A pro-Lasse Braun source rejoins: "I know Lasse very well and am very familiar with his research (not personally!). This Axel Braun is not Lasse's son. He's Lasse's daughter's ex-boyfriend! Cashing in on the name Lasse Braun, he's gotten contracts all over town. Lasse is currently working on getting an injunction on Axel to prevent him from using the name Braun. Lasse's name is trademarked. They did have a falling out (partially from Lasse's daughter ending the relationship). Lasse is angry at him for using the name. Apparently, he was a terrible PA and that's where the falling out came from. Granted, Lasse is difficult to work for sometimes, but if you're used to his style, he's very loyal to his actors and crew."
Axel, a 32-year old Italian, speaks rapidly, pausing every few minutes to pop outside to smoke a cigarette. His girlfriend performs girl-girl sex in porn, "Chelsea Blue."
Axel: "When I started researching the G-spot, it was just for fun, just in my private life. In 1989, I started talking to him about the G-spot. He remembers that he'd been with women who got very wet. He thought it was just pee, and as he's a pervert, that's fine with him.
"Then in 1995, when he comes back to Italy, he tries to put together a deal, because he needs money. I owned a chain of video stores in Italy, Compact Video. He asked me, "who is the biggest [porn] video distributor in Italy?" It was Blue Movie, owned by Mr. Ceretti. 'He came to look for me in Copenhagen in the 1970s. I gave him movies for free and he paid me back.' We go see Mr. Ceretti, who buys movie rights from America. He doesn't produce anything. My father tells him, 'we have to do this... We have to spend millions in America... Build an empire...'
"Mr. Ceretti's competitor, Topline Video, already did a production with Lasse Braun in 1989 called Fantasy Nights. It was written and produced by Lasse Braun, directed by Henri pachard and shot by Alex deRenzy.
"So my father says to me, 'we have to pitch something... He's [Ceretti] not really convinced.' So why don't we do something with the G-Spot? 'Yes, yes... We have to show him something. Do you have something?' Yes, I had a girlfriend in Florence. I used a hidden camera. She's on TV in Italy... It was me using my fingers to make her squirt.
"I was in the process of writing a book called The Impetus of Venus. The story of how every woman can squirt. He took the book and my video to Mr. Ceretti to sell the production... Ceretti asked him to get an actress to demonstrate the G-spot. I shot it. My dad was at it for six hours... He was sweating like a pig. She was exhausted. At the end, a little bit of liquid came out.
"I've been selling his movies to VCA since 1989. I know Tony Lovett and Russ Hampshire. Lasse Braun shot a movie for VCA (Uncontrollable Lust) in 1997 that was a mess. It went over budget. I shot one camera and wrote part of the script. Video is not my father's medium. He's used to doing 35mm film with high budgets.
"Then Tony [Lovett] asked me to shoot a couple of gonzos in Europe for VCA for $20,000 each. My father tried to talk me out of it. I ended up doing two features... I couldn't stay attached to him [Lasse Braun], and be his little slave.
"Later, we made up. He owed me money. He said he'd help me with my movie. He'd do a scene with a girl [The Book of Lust]. So he's licking her, and when it comes time to f---, he goes in the other room and comes back with a dildo... He was a pain in the ass. He wouldn't sign a release for his acting performance.
"People aren't going to give me money to shoot movies just because I'm the son of Lasse Braun. After this movie, he sends me this certified letter asking that I stop using the name Axel Braun.
"I first met him in 1980 when I was 14 years old. My mom and my father [not his biological father Lasse Braun] were married for seven years, then they split. Then my mom met Lasse Braun. At that time, she'd been diagnosed as sterile. She had a three month relationship with Lasse Braun [at the beginning of 1966] and got pregnant. She told him, and he said, 'hmm, we'll take care of it,' and he left. My mom and my dad got back together after she got pregnant and he agreed to treat me like his son. Then in an argument with my mom, she told me the whole story.
"Then in 1980, my mom arranged a meeting with Lasse Braun in Milan, Italy. I didn't know I was his son. I was charmed by him. He was a cool guy with long hair who didn't look like an adult. He told me that he made movies in Hollywood. He sent me postcards. He wanted me to go make movies with him. My mom said, 'that's ok. He makes movies that are not for kids.' When I was 16, I argued with my mom and she told me that Lasse Braun was my biological father. I love my real father, who died three years ago.
"With Alberto [Ferro, aka Lasse Braun], we look like. We think alike. We have a lot in common. We have a vision and a passion for sex. As a person, he's jaded and fake. Perhaps it comes from having so much money and losing it all. He could come here and cry on my shoulder. 'Oh my son, the blood of my blood...' And the moment later he'd want to kill me.
"When I was 16, we spent two days at a beautiful hotel in Milan. We talk about history and philosophy. We both did classical studies. He was smoking lots of pot then, but he didn't want to do it in front of me... 'When you grow up, there are certain things you have to do each day to keep a balance. The English drink their tea at 5PM every day... I have to smoke a joint. It's not good. I don't want you to do it. But I have to smoke a joint... It's not a drug.' I was selling hashish in school at the time but I didn't tell him.
"He opens up this silver box and there's a brick of black hashish which was very valuable. I give him my paper and he realizes that I smoke. 'Mostly, I sell.' And he was relieved.
"So we smoke hasish, and he says, 'ohmigod, I forgot. You have a sister [different mother].' I said, 'really,' and start laughing. He calls her at midnight. 'Hey, this is dad.' And he was not a dad to me. But he was married to her mom. Then he disappeared and only called once in a while. He doesn't even know how many children he has.
"For the longest time, I idolized him. But it's even worse when someone you put on a pedastal reveals himself as a bad person.
"He says that he never undersold his art. f--- off. You'd sell your own mom for anything. He wanted me to put "Lasse Braun Presents" on my films in exchange for giving him a thousand dollars each...
"Ever since 1989's Fantasy Nights, I've had credit in his movies as co-producer or co-writer. Now he says that I was a bad P.A. [production assistant], not his son but the boyfriend of his daughter."
Axel shows me a certified letter he received from Lasse Braun (Alberto Ferro) on November 20, 1997, asking that Axel stop using the last name "Braun."
Letter reads: "You give me no information about your dealings nor respects... But for reasons that we know, you can use my family name Ferro in your personal life."
Axel: "Since I'm your daughter's ex-boyfriend, I can use your family name in my personal life?"
Letter: "But you can't claim the same connection to Lasse Braun. This is a name that I am using for my artistic creative purposes. I've been using it for more than 27 years... No one can declare to be the son of Lasse Braun nor use the name Braun in the same business as mine without my consent. You have no right to take advantage of it. Your illegal use of the name has already caused serious damage to my reputation as an artist and producer. It has hindered my chances to raise money for my own productions. It has created confusion amongst my business partners and it will certainly create confusion among the public...
"The name Lasse Braun stands for excellence. I have never compromised my artistic approach nor my cultural motivations for any amount of money. This, as you told me a few days ago, isn't going to be your approach.
"Why use my glorious legendary name if you do not wish to comply with the same commitment I have?
"I wish you great fortune in the branch of entertainment which I have generously opened up for you with caring, paternal yet misplaced confidence in your loyalty and in your youthful contribution to my endeavors. You are clever, charming and perhaps you can even become a good filmmaker."
Axel: "Do you know how my father began his fight against censorship? When he was eight years old, he studied with the priests... They were showing a regular movie, and the priest during the kissing scene put his hand over the projectors. And he decided why?"
Claudio, Axel and I sit down with the cook, Claudio's wife Gina Rome for dinner. The first course is Risotto with Porchini mushrooms seasoned with the rare and expensive Italian spice Saffron (which costs more per ounce than cocaine, I'm told) , followed by a roll made of eggs, cheese and mushrooms. Axel announces he's on a crusade against partially hydrogenated oils which, he says, accounts for the large number of obese Americans.
Claudio, who's getting drunk, says Rob Black is the greatest, because he always pays on time.
Gina looks up from her food. "Tomorrow I've got to walk on some guys for a bondage shoot and they are not going to be happy that I ate so much."
Axel: "Russ Hampshire is the most powerful person in the industry. He took a small sleazy business and turned it into a monument."
Claudio: "I don't care about power. I am the most powerful man in the world for myself. I was a mining engineer who dreamed about doing porno, and now I'm doing porno. I've fulfilled my dream."
Luke: "Russ Hampshire does not f--- on film."
Claudio: "I f--- on film. I f--- in my private life. I f--- as many girls as I want because my wife does not care about that. And I fly, so I see everything from the top."
Axel: "I had a dream of being a filmmaker. I was in film school but I ended up doing porn, thanks to Lasse Braun.
"In 1989, I took our movie Fantasy Nights (produced by Lasse Braun, directed by Ron Sullivan and shot by Alex deRenzy) starring Samantha Strong to VCA. I didn't know anybody. I said, 'I have a movie to sell. I'm the son of Lasse Braun. They introduce me to Russ Hampshire. 'Hi kid, how are you doing? What do you have to sell?'
"All I had was an unlabeled tape. I told him who made it. Lasse Braun told me 'try to get $10,000 but if he gives you $7,000, take it.' Russ offered me $17,000. In less than five minutes, I was in and out."
Claudio, thoroughly sloshed: "For me, Robert Black is much better than Russ Hampshire."
Axel: "Rob Black is a nice guy, but he's a kid. Russ Hampshire manages a f---ing empire."
Claudio: "En vino veritas. The truth is in the wine."
Axel and Claudio agree that director Ron Sullivan is a good guy. "When I first came to America (1989)," says Axel, "I lived with Ron Sullivan in his apartment."
Claudio: "Russ didn't want to buy the last movie that Axel and I shot."
Axel: "You had a flag on you."
Claudio: "Somebody said that I had a flag on me, that I can't work for VCA."
VCA owner Russ Hampshire denies that his company flags people.
Axel: "A couple of years ago, they didn't want to use TT Boy."
Claudio: "It was because I was an Italian guy with a big dick. (Drunken laughter.) I did many movies for them [VCA]. I don't care about powerful people. I am the power."
Claudio is mad at the leading German production company (Multimedia Werlache) who took him and others for over $1000.
Axel says JJ Michaels, the short blond male performer, is on his bad list. "We were shooting the G-Spot Chronicles. And we had a misunderstanding. He came with his gorgeous 18-year old Australian girlfriend Vivienne. He worked for me on The Book of Lust. He couldn't get a hard-on but he was nice so I hired him again.
"He made a big fuss about the money. He said he charged $600 for himself. I said, 'get out of here. Everybody knows that you shoot your dick [to get an erection].
"I wanted to have all anal scenes but it turned out that she didn't do anal. Maybe it was my misunderstanding. I told everybody that the main part of the movie was the G-Spot ejaculation."
Luke: "You wanted to finger his girlfriend's pussy? You're a pervert like your dad."
Axel: "I fingered every girl's pussy. I'm dressed all in black with a red G on my forehead. With black fingernail polish..."
Luke: "So you're fingering Mrs. Michaels while her unsuspecting husband JJ Michaels..."
Axel: "We did this before they were to have sex because I didn't want to put my fingers where a cock had been parked for an hour. She was small and tight and after a few minutes, she was hurting. And we had to stop... Then they start their scene, and he says, 'I'm late. I have to be out of here in an hour.' And I said, 'Listen JJ, actors how up late. Whatthef---. You're getting $900 between the two of you so just relax.'
"I then went to pay him $850, my mistake... I give him the $900, bye. A few days later, my girlfriend [Chelsea Blue] goes to Jim South to pick the talent... And Jim South says, 'I don't know what happened with Axel. JJ Michaels never complains and he told me that Axel tried to fist-f--- his wife."
10:30 PM: Claudio announces. "I need some more alcohol. Tomorrow I have to f--- the older woman. [Claudio's scheduled to partake in a gangbang of 50-something Kitty Fox.]"
Gina tries to pull him away from the bottle. "Please honey, don't drink anymore tonight."
Claudio marches on to the bottle, announcing "en vino, veritas [in wine, truth]."
Gina: "Don't write that. It's not true. I just complain a little."
Axel claims he's been free of drugs since 1985.
Claudio leans over to my tape recorder: "I claim that I have never been free of alcohol in my whole life. And I never will."
Retiring French photographer Patrick shares that he f---ed a 280 pound woman 10/98 in Auckland, New Zealand, for a report he filed for a French magazine on prostitution in Auckland.
Patrick narrates: "There's a place called Stairway to Heaven. You walk up a stairway to a door. You ring the bell and ask for an all-inclusive massage. You have to pay beforehand, so you never know who is working. So I paid, and the only girl working is this huge momma. She's foul and huge. Then I figure whatthef---. I want to be a gentleman. No problem. I figure that I'm just going to get a massage out of this, my dick will never get hard.
"And as I'm following her, I'm starting to think differently. I'm wondering if my f---ing dick will get hard. And I take it up as a challenge.
"We're in the bedroom and she's massaging my back. Then I turn around, and my dick is hard. I couldn't believe it. So she starts giving me a blowjob (with a condom). Then I ask her, 'can I f--- you," and she says 'yes, sure.'
"So I'm doing her doggie style and I don't feel anything. I'm wondering if my dick is still hard. So I actually have to pull my dick out to look, and it's hard. I couldn't believe it. Then she's riding my dick, crushing my balls. That I had to stop, so I said, 'just give me a blowjob.' So she sucks my dick for a couple of minutes. I was concentrating on making it last as long as possible, and she said, "only two minutes left." So I took the condom off and jerked myself off..."
Luke: "Was she talking dirty?"
Patrick: "No, she was talking about her kids... Then I came all over her tits."
Axel: "We were doing a DP scene and Wagner couldn't get a hard on. Patrick was running the second camera. And he said, 'well, Axel, what if I jump in the scene.' I said, why not. In half a second he was naked. He really liked Tracy Love. But do you have an AIDS test? And he didn't, so he couldn't do it."
Patrick regards his scene with Shay Sweet as his best. He makes amateur pornos in Santa Barbara, luring innocent young women into pornography.
Patrick: "I met this very good looking girl in Santa Barbara. I had a feeling she was going to be a star. I tested her in her bathroom. The door was locked. She's riding me and this sledgehammer head comes through the door. It was her boyfriend. He was kncoking the door down. I was looking for my pants all over the bathroom floor. I get my pants on and the guy is out of his mind.
"He goes, 'Who the f--- are you?' I say, 'I'm just a friend.' 'Just a freind, and you're f---ing my girlfriend?' 'Obviously I didn't know she was your girlfriend or I wouldn't be here.' 'Dude, you've got to get the f--- out of here before I kill you.' 'Dude, I'm leaving right now.'
"I'm walking out of the house but I had left a little bag with my hi-8 camera on the table. He smashed my bag with a sledgehammer and he wanted to smash my car. I said, 'dude, I wouldn't do this. It's not my car. You don't want to deal with the guy who owns the car. He's a biker who'll tear you to pieces.' 'Okay, just get the f--- out of here.'
"So imagine walking into the police station in Santa Barbara with no shoes and no shirt... I tried to press charges but they said it would be useless. She kept calling me and wanted to do a scene with me. I met her at the beach. I had a 357 magnum in my bag, loaded. I thought that guy was going to show up.
"I had this guy do a movie for me in Santa Barbara but he couldn't get a hard-on. I still filmed and used him in a couple of blooper scenes at the end. A year later, the guy walks into a tire shop in Santa Barbara and says to him, 'Dude, f---, I saw you in a porn movie and you couldn't get it up.' So he got really pissed, and he's after me. I can't tell you the name of the movie."
Luke: "So you exploit psychotics."
Patrick: "I've never done anybody wrong. I have them sign release forms. I tell them that someone may recognize you, but people say 'no problem.' Then when it does happen... That's the problem with using performers from small towns. They have no idea what exposure really means. They think they're studs if they can do it, but if they can't, they get portrayed as limp dicks."
...........................................................
Bushmiller writes on RAME: "Writer, archivist and historian Bill Landis
(author of the recent controversial biography of Kenneth Anger) was
editor of the influential zine Sleazoid Express, which folded in 1985.
Sleazoid offered an unprecedented, gutter-level view of the street culture
of the Times
Square area of New York City. It set its sights on exploitation films,
the run-down grindhouse theaters that showed them and the people who
hung out there. An incredible example of inner-city archeology, nothing
else since Sleazoid has as accurately chronicled the voices and vibrations
of this sometimes dangerous yet intensely alive neighborhood.
"Now that 42nd Street is home to Disney and MTV and all traces of it’s
sordid past have disappeared, it seems an appropriate time to look
back. And, amazingly, Sleazoid will be re-launched in Spring of 1999.
In celebration, Landis and his partner Michelle Clifford (editor of
Metasex) will appear in person to introduce the Sleazoid Express Film
Festival. Eight high-voltage films, all of which are remarkable relics
of 42nd Street culture, will be shown [in San Francisco], and program
notes written by Landis will be available at the screenings. (Due to
the fragile state
of some of these films, you may wish to call 415/978-ARTS to confirm
specific film titles.)"
Porner Kid Vegas: "I’m ready to shoot the climactic scene of my impossibly hot debut video, THE WHOREMASTER. It's going to establish me as the pre-eminent Gen-X porn director of our time. I’ve already shot a scene with Johnny Toxic, in which he bows down before me and declares, “Kid Vegas, you are the coolest, richest, hippest king of all Gen-X directors.” I asked Kid Sparkle if he'd be in it, but he declined. He said appearing in my video might ruin his pending deal with Al Borda. Max Hardcore has agreed to appear in it. (He’s not Gen-X, but so what? He’s rad!) The only other Gen-X director worthy of being in my video is Tinky Winky (a.k.a. Matt Zane).
"I want the last scene of THE WHOREMASTER to be a balls-out final battle between me and Tinky. I’ve already rented a gladiator arena in the Valley. Two men will enter, one man will leave. Tinky loves prancing around in his videos, showing off his so-called kung-fu moves. Let’s see how well they play out in real life. Tinky should know that I was trained by Sensei Hakamoto, the all-time Bushido champion of Japan.
"Because this is Tinky we're talking about, I want to establish certain rules to prevent this fight from getting out of hand. The rules are: 1. No painted fingernails 2. No hair-pulling 3. No turtleneck sweaters 4. No make-up of any kind 5. No foreign objects hidden in purses.
"I promise this will be the biggest fight ever lensed! To sweeten the pot, if Tinky wins, I am prepared to sign over the title to my impossibly profitable KID VEGAS store in Las Vegas. It’s the cornerstone of my immense personal fortune.
"Tell Matt Zane that I will be looking for his response on your page, Luke. I’m going to make him my Gen-X bitch. My cameramen are standing by. Let’s do this thing! KID VEGAS, Music & Adult Video Director Gen-X Icon, Whore-Master."
Thursday night, Kid Vegas adds: "I fear that Tinky Winky (a.k.a. Matt Zane) is too chicken to go mano-a-mano with the one and only KID VEGAS. So I have an alternate proposal: a battle of the bands!
"You see, Tinky Winky fancies himself to be a musician. I'm sure to
cats
in heat, the noises he makes are arousing. But to anyone who can
communicate without having to use sign language, Tinky's "music" is
the
porn equivalent of... well, of a Matt Zane movie. If Zane & Co.
really
wants to promote the use of condoms, somebody should put one over Matt's
guitar and make the world a safer place... for our eardrums.
You name the instrument, Tinky - guitar, turntable, accordian - whatever
it is, I'll out-play, out-sing and out-dance you before a jury of our
Gen-X peers. We'll stage the event with the proceeds going to benefit
the A.I.M. Clinic. This will be the biggest battle of the bands ever
lensed!
The ball's in your court, Tinky Winky.
...........................................................
Prometheus Books critic Pat Riley writes about the porn stars real names issue: "For mainstream actors they have primarily a public persona that they show to Entertainment Tonight, Jay Lenno, People magazine, and if they're lucky, the Academy when they collect their Oscar. Carefully nurtured, their public persona is occasionally penetrated when they do something really stupid like Hugh Grant or when the paparazzi catch them.
"Most porno performers don't have a public persona simply because they lack the opportunity. They do, however, have a screen persona which they start off cultivating when they first appear with Ed Powers:
"I love older men" [Performer thinks all porn viewers are probably as ugly and old as Ed.]
"I lost my cherry at age 12." [Didn't everyone? Porn performer lacks Hollywood publicist who could have told her that many porn viewers still have their cherry.]
"I love sex." [Same publicist could have told porn performer that she should not have said this when in response to a previous question of "How long since you last had sex." she replied "Six months."]
"I don't masturbate." [A totally foreign idea to most viewers who masturbate at least three times a day.]
"I have a college degree in international banking and my last job was re-organizing the World Bank." [Hmmm, very precocious. Didn't you say you had just turned 18?]
"Of course my tits are real." [What then, pray tell are the scars where the breast meets the chest?]
"This tattoo is Tinkerbell and you see where I've added a set of lips and a heart entwined with..." [A difficult call given that the older males in the audience will hate you and the younger more rebellious ones will think you one of them.]
They continue cultivating the image with a couple more appearances on debutante tapes where they always say "This is my first time on camera" thereby establishing their trustworthiness. They then move off to the non-debutante tapes where they show how enthralled they are to have sex: "Who did you say I was working with today?" ..."Ah, Ooh, Ah, Ooh, A-a-a-h" and if they're really lucky they establish more screen persona by moving on to the "feature" where they play something difficult like...oh, say a porn star in her first experience on the set: "Who did you say..." Or maybe Lolita where they have some demanding dialog: "We shouldn't be doing this, stepdaddy. Ah, Ooh, Ah, Ooh, A-a-a-h."
Some of course get their once in a lifetime chance of establishing a public persona when they appear on a talk show like Springer, Jenny Jones, or Howard Stern but unfortunately their public persona appears to be very similar to their real persona when they call the audience member "a f---ing asshole" and discuss their drug habits, their suitcase pimp, and their last term of incarceration.
No less a luminary than Brad Pitt is quoted as saying: "The truth is, I don't want people to know me. I don't know a thing about my favorite actors. I don't think you should. Then they become personalities." However that doesn't seem to deter the slavering fan boy (TM--CJH) who can't stop himself in his quest to find out all sorts of personal details about the object of his affection including her brand of tampons, what breakfast cereal she eats, how many abortions she has had, and whether she'll sell him her used panties.
...........................................................
Terri Redor writes on RAME: "When I first read in Luke's account of the Extreme crew living in Tom Byron's house, I wondered too. Even Rob Black? I can understand performers living together -- same friends, understanding companionship, maybe even romance. I just thought, God, the industry can't be worth living your entire life as if you're just out of college.
"But it occured to me later that Tiffany, Tom and Rob have all just recently started a very risky new company, pretty much on their own with apparently little backing. When they started, they were looking at the prospect of putting most of their energies into a new company and its products. They didn't know how they would do. Perhaps sharing rent would lower the overhead on their own lives while they got Extreme going. Maybe they could help Tom's mortgage along too since he was going to be investing time in the company he could have spent making videos elsewhere. And they may have been so happy when they formed the company about their thinking enough of one another to work together, that they could probably get along if they lived together too. And I'm not surprised that things aren't working out perfectly at home, especially considering that things aren't perfect at Extreme (or at few other new businesses, for that matter). I'm just a little disappointed with myself and with the level of discourse about a very exciting and interesting industry that I'm even reading about domestic disputes of this kind. Petty journalism, petty readership."
FSC President Gloria Leonard: "I too, have pondered why adults (remember, this is the "adult" business) would feel the need to all live under one roof, harking back to days of communal, hippie happenings, when dope and dough were in short supply and priorities were long on saving the planet! I believe the reason that veteran porners such as myself, Candida Royalle, Veronica Hart, John Leslie etc. maintained a certain level of sanity and stability, is due to the fact that we retained relationships with people outside of porn, stayed involved in other interests (theatre, jazz, family) and did not let porn be the be-all and end-all to our lives. Some people get into this business and somehow, think it necessary to live out what they believe is a "porn star" lifestyle - 24/7 - and they drown in a pool of porn. Hey, kids, it's only a job - Bruce Willis doesn't blow up planes when he gets home from the set, Bill Gates occasionally uses a pencil and Lee Iaococca even rides a bicycle!"
...........................................................
Andrew Drake from www.planetpixis.com writes: "Rebecca Lord appears at the Hustler Hollywood store on Thursday March 25th 1999 from 6 - 9 pm promoting my new video Diva X The Movie. Which also features Nj de Bahia, Taylor Moore [and a scene with the French actress Delfin before she caught HIV in 1997]."
Numerous fans appear disappointed with the new Snow Leopard film from
Adam & Eve. "Heard all the buzz about the budget on this film...
$500,000 plus...right? And ASIA CARERRA comes out of retirement...and
Temptress and Taylor St. Claire and Ashton Moore are in this movie...
whatever...this movie BLOWS and i mean really blows donkey dicks...
maybe i'm being harsh... but for $500,000 and you get NO FACIAL
CUMSHOTS... that's right... none at all...
"I rented this movie for the sole purpose of seeing ASHTON MOORE... a hot new blonde bombshell... and sure she was in it... and she had sex... but the lighting sucked... the camera angles sucked... and her pretty mug never even got close to some baby gravy....
"now pardon me... but for $500,000 we should get some DAMN FINE PORN... well that's what i thought... no ANAL... no FACIAL... and everyone wearing rubbers to work.... jeeez....no offense... didn't even listen to the dialogue... acting is C rated... and the sets and locations were nothing spectacular... neither were the special effects... you get better F/X from the old Star Trek series....
"I have NO IDEA what they were trying to do with it... i mean we already have ANDREW BLAKE crappola for the softcore-hardcore artsy fluff films... this was not even close to ANDREW BLAKE... at least he know the value of sans condoms and facials....
"Here's my script for the next $500,000 movie guys... PAY ATTENTION
cause you sure don't know what the audience wants to see... we get ASHTON
MOORE and TANYA BEYER and KELLY HAVEL and 300 Lexington Steele brothers
and we have a 6 hour long gangbang... 2 hours for each girl... and we
get nice juicy close-ups... no condoms... the girls keep their eyes
OPEN and eyeing the camera... a must (ASHTON MOORE shuts her eyes during
blowjobs and sex... really lame since she has the most beautiful eyes...)...
and a bukkake finish for each girl... hell throw in some swallowing
and anal and double penetration while we're at it... we do
have $500,000 to spend...
"And i want it on VIDEO... that's right... VIDEO... i don't like this
glossy vaseline covered 35mm film crap... it's just not right for
hardcore porn... it's like having a Ferrari body over a Mustang
engine... i want that home-made low-budget harsh lighting and contrast
gritty porno look..."
From an interview with Director James DiGiorgio at www.unchain.com:
"A: What is your opinion of Luke F-rd?
J: Luke is great! He's great for this industry. Ok, maybe he doens't always do his homework. Big f---ing deal. Luke is entertainment. Luke is controversy. All those pussy-ass pornographers who take exception with Luke should rethink their positions. Luke's brought some fun and vitality back to this business. Everyone who is anyone reads Luke first thing every morning. I've gotten more personal publicity, as well as publicity for my flicks FOR FREE than anything AVN, or any other rag has done, with the possible exception of Unchain the Underground after you publish this interview.
A: What was Luke's reaction to your road trip to Vegas?
J: Luke said it was the first time in his entire life that he felt like he doing some genuine male-bonding, being truly one of the guys, on the trip out there. He was a bit taken back with the drinking, pot smoking, shouting, etc. in the car, but he got over that. He also loved being in a really large hotel suite, I think we have over three thousand square feet, and he had his first ride in a limo. We did consider filling a hole in the desert with him, but what would Porn Utopia be without Luke F-rd?
Harry: "Dearest Luke, I cannot hold in my feelings any longer, the more I read, the more I crave... You've hit a note in me that no man has ever steered! Your negative vibes that you put out on a daily basis has become exasperating...I feel like I can't breathe anymore...you just turn me on baby!
"Let me take the time to describe myself...I'm a young beefed up surfer dude/dudette who has continuesouly been watching you from afar...but I feel I can no longer do this...you drive me crazy! I hope you put me up on your Internet like you do all your other naughty subjects for this will really make me stand tall (if you know what I mean, which I'm sure such a scholar as yourself wood!!) I love you..."
Here's a sneak preview of a forthcoming book by Rodger Jacobs
"I don't have time to read the Star Attraction rewrite just now because we have another problem," Wesley says, and I breathe a sigh of relief to hear his voice over the telephone, comforted in the knowledge that all my family members, including Linda, will apparently live to see another sunrise. "Chris wants to bring the budget down on the new No Man's Land."
No Man's Land is Videoteam's highly successful all-girl franchise; directing chores on the first seven volumes of No Man's Land were farmed out to various directors but when Wesley and I assumed total control over the writing and directing chores on the lesbian themed videos at Volume Eight (titled "Eight Women Who Ate Women") sales quickly increased, owing in no small part to my insistence that the stories should henceforth be about hardcore lesbians, as opposed to hackneyed plots about otherwise heterosexual women who suddenly find themselves stranded on a desert island with nothing but each other and a box of dildoes and ... well, you know the rest.
"How many players do we have to cut from the show?" I asked Wesley, popping open another beer and wandering into the office, firing up the computer and pulling up the script for No Man's Land 11. "We have nine girls in the show now. Can we bring it down to seven?"
"Might be easier than you'd think," I mumbled, and I'm sure Wesley was surprised at catching me in such an agreeable mood. I scanned through the script to get to the bottom page where the breakdowns, the comprehensive production list that itemizes each character and what sex scenes they perform in, was located. "See, with the exception of two of the characters who were given names, all of the rest of the characters are peripheral and were assigned numbers instead of names. Give me an hour to work this out and I'll call you back."
The booze would have to wait because this kind of delicate operation requires sobriety and intense concentration. In less than an hour, two characters were excised from the screenplay, reducing the budget of the show by one thousand dollars.
"Get out your script and follow along with me," I instructed Wesley over the phone. "Sex scene number one is between Girl One and Girl Two, right?" "Right." "It stays Girl One and Girl Two; we change nothing there. Now, when you get over to page six, when the character of Desiree enters the bar -- " "That's supposed to be sex scene number two, a three-way between Desiree, Girl Three, and Girl Four -- " Wesley interjected.
"Don't get ahead of me," I scolded. "This is where the changes start. We're losing Girl Three and turning Girl Four into Girl Three."
"You just lost me."
"Okay. Look carefully at the beginning of the scene on page six. It says that Desiree enters the bar and sees a nude dancer gyrating on the stage -- that nude dancer is identified as Girl Three, right?" "Right. And the bartender is called Girl Four," Wesley says.
I can hear him leafing through his script and I can feel his mounting confusion. "Girl Three, the one who's dancing on the stage, was just a peripheral character; she has no dialogue or any special action other than participating in a three way with Desiree and Girl Four, okay? So we're axing Girl Three and we're changing sex scene two from a three way to a simple girl/girl between Desiree and the bartender, who was Girl Four but is now renumbered to be Girl Three."
"So there's no one dancing on the stage when Desiree enters the bar?" "No one. You follow so far?"
"I'm with you; go ahead, Butt Breath."
"Alright," I said, plowing forward to page eight of the script, "sex scene three was a three way between Girl Four, Girl Five, and Girl Six -- " "But you changed Girl Four!" Wesley wailed in protest.
"I know that. Calm down. Bear with me. This scene will simply be a girl/girl between Girl Five and Girl Six. Now, moving ahead -- " "Wait a minute, asshole, I'm making margin notes as we go along, alright?"
His margin notes gave me enough time to trek out to the refrigerator and grab a fresh beer; now that work was done the drinking lamp was lit once more. "Are you ready to proceed now?" I asked after swallowing half a can of cold suds. "Yeah, go ahead."
"Sex scene four was yet another three way, this one between Girl One, Girl Four, and Girl Seven. We'll change it to Girl Six and Girl One, losing Girl Seven entirely." "So now Girl One appears in two sex scenes?"
"She's always appeared in two scenes, nothing's changed there. What we have accomplished is losing Girl Seven. And as for the final scene between the characters of Desiree and Samantha nothing changes at all."
There was a long considered pause before Wesley said: "How do you figure we've lost two performers?" "Well, we cut Girl Seven and Girl Three out of the show." "Wrong. We still have Girl Three."
"No, " I calmly instructed, "The old Girl Three was cut and the old Girl Four was bumped up to become the new Girl Three."
"But we still have eight characters," Wesley complained, "Girls One through Six and the characters of Desiree and Amanda. So you've only lost one player, not two."
"How is that possible?" I blurted, kicking myself for screwing up and gazing at the breakdown sheet in bewilderment. "Alright, let's do this: in sex scene four let's change it from Girl One and Girl Six to Girl One and Girl Four." "That would put Girl Four in three scenes back to back!"
"We can't have that," I lit up a cigarette, threw open the office window to let in the cool night air and contemplated the dilemma for a beat. "I can't fix it any better'n that. The best I can do is axe one player -- anymore f---ing around with it and the entire script'll start to fall apart."
"Like it's such a great script to begin with," Wesley chided.
