Friday, February 25, 2005
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Industry Turns Out Thursday Night To Laemmle's Screening Of Deep Throat
About 100 industry people turned out to the Laemmle 5 at 8000 Sunset Blvd Thursday night including Jesse Jane, Joone, Mark Kernes, Paul Fishbein and Cherry Rain, Flower Tucci, Cousin Stevie, Adam Glasser and his girlfriend Mari Possa, Sunny Lane, Chris Slater, Dani Woodward, Lynne LeMay, various people from Arrow including Bob "Straight Arrow" Verna, Jared Rutter (AVN), Tod Hunter, Don Hollywood and Brooke Hunter...
Karim from France Dani Woodward Dani Woodward Dani Woodward Dani Woodward Dani, Chris Slater Dani, Chris Dani Woodward, Cherry Rain Cherry, Dani Cherry, Dani Cherry, Dani Trina Michaels, Nadia, Britney Skye, Selena Silver Trina Michaels, NadiaStyles, Britney, Selena Trina Michaels, NadiaStyles, Britney, Selena Trina Michaels, Nadia, Britney, Selena Trina Michaels, Nadia, Britney, Selena Trina Michaels, Nadia, Britney Britney Skye Britney Lynn LeMay Brandi May Sunny Lane Sunny Lane Promise, Dee Promise, Dee Promise, Dee Promise, Dee Jesse Jane Jesse Jane Adam Glasser, Mari Possa Adam, Mari Possa Catalina Annie Body, Anna (ex-performer Billy) from London Dani Woodward, Paul Fishbein Eva Angelina, Mark Kernes Angie Savage Catalina Catalina Flower Tucci Flower, Selena Flower, Selena Mari Possa Flower, Mari Possa Dee Layla Rivera , Catalina, Max Hardcore Nakita Denise Nakita Denise Nakita Denise Eva Angelina, Tommy Gunn, Sunny Lane Sunny Lane Nakita Denise, Daria Aslamova Lynn LeMay Blonde, Grace (spokesmodel for Lifestyles videos)
I arrive at 9PM. I finally find parking on Sunset Blvd east of Fairfax behind a car with the license plate XRCO1. It belongs to AVN's Jared Rutter.
At the Laemmle, there's already a crowd of about 25 people.
I meet Karim. He says he left France "a year ago because I was really fed up. I tried to get into the porn industry. I did a scene for my friend D. Wise. It was s---. It was a lack of communication. It was a threesome which turned into a foursome."
I chat with mile-a-minute talker Dani Woodward, who comes with Chris Slater.
Dani: "I just shot a feature for Jerry [Tanenbaum] for Legend: Cocksucker: A Love Story. I play a porn star dating Evan Stone. Today was the last [of three] day of shooting. I shot a boy-girl with Evan and a boy-girl-girl with Dylan Maran and Manuel Ferrara.
"I was in Tokyo for five days for a shoot with Eva Angelina. The magazine is called Dick over there. Isn't that funny?"
Duke: "A hardcore shoot with Japanese guys?"
Dani: "With one Japanese guy who owned the magazine. Mahsu."
Duke: "Ahh, Mahsu. The famous Mahsu. What was he really like?"
Dani: "Shut up."
Duke: "Do you have anything scandalous going on?"
Dani: "No. How about you?"
Duke: "You don't have a gossip column."
Dani: "But I'm interested. I want to go to the source of the gossip instead of going to the website. What's really going on?"
Duke: "I'm exhausted from transcribing all these interviews. An interview [such as the one with Ira Levine] can take an hour-and-a-half to do, but it takes eight hours to write up. That's harder than doing double anal."
Dani: "I wouldn't know."
Chris Slater has been in porn three years, since he was a little boy bouncing up and down on Mark Kernes's lap.
Dani: "I'll be 21 next week."
Duke: "You can throw away your fake ID?"
Dani: "It was taken away from me last year by the police. I was pulled over for speeding. I opened my purse to give him my drivers license and he sees my fake ID underneath. He confiscated it.
"I was going 103mph in a 70. My car insurance is outrageous. I did a 93 in a 70. I did a 100 in a 70. I did a 63 in a 25 when I was 16. I got one for reckless driving for turning left through a redlight into the wrong way of a one-way street."
Duke: "Did you talk so fast before you got into porn?"
Dani: "Of course. Always. I'm from the East Coast. I'm from New York. It's expected there."
Dani turns and throws her arms around Cherry Rain, the fiance of AVN President Paul Fishbein who is following behind her.
Downstairs by the Coffee Bean, I run into black girl Promise, who's studying creative writing at college. I let her know she's yet to return my email.
She says she's been busy banging TT Boy every day (she didn't exactly put it like that). She's staying in LA until March 8 when she returns to school.
"I did think about you today," she smiles.
"But not enough," I respond, "to drive you to the keyboard, reply to my email and write, Dear Duke, Meeting you has forever changed my life."
No, not that much.
Redhead Brandi May has done two movies. Annie Body has been in porn on-and-off for five years.
Angie Savage, who has a big tattoo on her back, only does boy-girl with her husband.
Max Hardcore taps me on the shoulder and waves his finger at me: "No. The answer is no."
Shortly after 10PM, the crowd files into the theater. Bill Margold makes an appeal for Fred Salaff. Bill says we've only raised $600 to get him out of Panama.
Bill says Deep Throat was a real movie unlike most of what is made today.
Max Hardcore aka Paul Little, who oscillates between charming and bullying all night, starts yelling at Margold that he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Bill is unfazed by the abuse. He mentions Max's drinking problem. "Next we'll be raising money to get you out of jail."
Max: "I'll get myself out of jail. F--- you, Bill."
Bill: "You could if you had a dick big enough."
Bill walks up the aisle to his seat. "What a happy bunch of children."
Earlier in the evening, Bill said, "So many people destroy themselves. I can't keep them all alive."
The biggest applause of the night comes during a scene where Dolly Sharp is receiving anal in the doggie position and another guy is eating her out. When the butt banger falls out, it appears for a second that the guy on the bottom has a dick in his face.
The movie has numerous funny moments and crowd whoops and hollers. One guy yells out at Linda doing deepthroat, "She loves it!"
At the conclusion of the 61-minute movie, a Ray Pistol-produced documentary begins but most of the crowd files out to the free champagne and refreshments in the lobby.
Layla Rivera asks me to take a shot of her with Max's girlfriend Catalina.
Layla Rivera , Catalina, Max Hardcore
Max yells at me that not only am I not allowed to write about him or photograph him, I'm not allowed to photograph anyone he is with.
Max says he will f--- me up if I write about him. One word. One picture. I'm finished.
Max gets right up in my face and chews me up.
It reminds me of the first time I met Max. It was at the FOXE Awards at the Mayan Theater on Hollywood Blvd in February 1997. After I tried to interview his girlfriend of the time Barbie (?), Max stalked up and cursed me out at length. Then he stalked to the bar and cursed out the help when they didn't have his favorite kind of beer.
Thursday night, after Max tires of me, he buddies up with AVN's Mark Kernes.
Catalina comes over and says that she tried to talk to Max to be reasonable with me. It was all good publicity but nothing she could say would make any difference in Max's attitude.
Max has hated me since 1998.
I talk to Lynn LeMay for the first time in nine years. She says she's seen me at various industry functions but avoided me because of the crap I wrote about her.
Greg Lasrado's Lamborghini Crashes
Greg Lasrado was travelling down Logan Road in his black lamborghini here in Brisbane when a woman with 2 kids went to merge into the lane Greg was in. The car hit the front his lamborghini and flipped over. The lady had her arm out the window and it got pretty up apparently, and she got grazes on her face. She is now in hospital. The 2 kids and Greg are fine.
Rick Latona (Dollars.com) Interview
Rick Latona controlls one of if not the largest shock/gore websites on the net, consumption junction. It survives on bookmarks and doesn't need trades or feeder traffic to boost it's numbers. His partners and himself have created an auro around them that leads one to believe that not only are they savy businessmen but these guys really enjoy what they do. Present at most major webmaster gatherings, Rick hangs with the big boys in the industry not cause he's looking to move up but cause they are his peers.
1. Just how did CJ (ConsumptionJunction.com) get as big as it is today? Where does the traffic come from? Where did it origionally come from?
2. How many women in the industry have you had sex with?
3. Why do you smoke?
4. Why is Lakeland, Fl refered to as the "asshole of the planet"?
5. Why were you an angry adolescent?
6. Is there anything that you condiser going too far on CJ and won't post there?
7. How many pay sites do you run? Discuss
8. What's your opinion on popups? Dialers? Installs/downloads?
9. Talk about your first job.
10. What's the deal with peepholes? Discuss
11. Why did you drop out of school?
12. How many languages do you speak? discuss.
13. How long does it take to sell a used car?
14. How much money can I get for my old movado watch? Discuss
15. What's Interland? discuss
16. Why do you consider yourself a dotcommer?
17. How much traffic does CJ get in a day - uniques.
18. Where do you live now? Why? Where are your partners?
19. What ethnic background are you?
20. What's the one thing you wish you didn't post on CJ?
21. Have you ever gotten into any gov't legal trouble due to CJ? Investigated? Searched? etc?
22. How tall are you? How much do you weigh? Do you usually go barebones or use a rubber?
23. What sells best on your sites?
24. What other traffic sites/ urls do you own other than CJ? Discuss.
25. What happened at the Canadian border on your way to Vancouver? How did you get in?
26. Who do you admire most in business? Life? Relationships?
27. If you had to start over with nothing, what would you do TODAY?
28. Have you ever had any major health problems. dicsuss
29. What kind of women/man do you find attractive - physical and attitude, discuss.
30. How much real estate do you own?
31. What kind of car(s) do you own/drive? pics please
32. What's your thoughs on drugs and booze at conventions?
33. How many adult internet conventions do you attend a year?
34. What's the funniest thing that ever happened to you at an adult convention? Scariest?
35. Why Panama? discuss
What are the biggest & best porn blogs?
I have decided to take the plunge and start one of my own. I have been looking around for a couple of days at other porn blogs and most of them suck s---. They are all just about like the askjolene porn "blogs" which really amount to no more than wordy TGPs. Surely there are some really good porn blogs out there. If you know of any, please list them.
The Adult Check Story
Tell the Community here about Adult Check, And Adult Check Gold,Continually rebilling surfers yet not paying the Webmasters that sent that traffic? I warned you people at the time you screwed my partner and I over that I would someday hope to repay you. And Today is your day you crook.
If you take any type of deal from Marty, remember what he did to the rest of us. I would never buy your software. You may decide one day it gets to difficult to support and leave me sitting with it. So tell me your Adult Check Story and I will also tell my friend Tiki Gleem from Avslounge to tell his.
Drew writes on JBM:
Adult Check decided to stop paying 99% of its webmasters, and keep the members billing every month, but now instead of keeping only 40% of the money, they keep 100%. Oh, but they decided to be nice, and give a few of the webmasters a chance.... basically, you get to keep some of your rebills, but you have to make X amount of sites a month for them, to keep their content updated. There is a huge difference between shutting down a site, and just stopping paying your webmasters completely. Ofcourse, because of all the terms we signed when signing up, and all the new docs they required when creating a new site, they aren't legally liable to pay the webmasters.
Jeremy Steele Seeks Asami Bin Bitch
Jeremy writes:
Have you seen this bitch? She's wanted, but then again, look at her... how wanted should she be? She is a known fugitive and sexual terrorist. She is responsible for costing Jeremy Steele hundreds of dollars and some free pussy. Be an the lookout and call John Asscrotch if you see her!
Adelphia Abandons Plan to Offer Porn
Adelphia Communications Corp. today said it is ending a short-lived attempt at getting into the lucrative hard-core porn industry in response to public outcry.
The nation's fifth-largest cable television company earlier this month launched triple-X video-on-demand programming in certain markets, including Southern California, where about two-thirds of Adelphia's 1.2 million subscribers could view the adult programs.
A child protection group has called for a more lenient approach to certain users of child pornography.
The Churches' Child Protection Advisory Services (CCPAS) says that the threat of court prevents low-risk offenders from confessing and handing over their computers.
They propose an amnesty in which offenders who come forward could just be cautioned and placed on the sex offenders' register.
CCPAS director David Pearson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Most people who are downloading indecent images of children are not known about.
"This is a genuine initiative to try to encourage people to come forward who are prepared to admit that they have a problem with this area."
With the benefit of hindsight, I see that I did not go about this in the best way.
First, I tried to soften Nick (editor of the new book Choice: The Best of Reason) with a lie. I told him via email this past week that, in effect, I'd spent long dreamy hours over the telephone with his predecessor as editor of Reason magazine, Virginia Postrel, and that I'd barely time to fit him in for his interview Friday morning.
I wondered how could Virginia be so charming and so cute and so intellectually taut all at the same time?
The longer Nick runs Reason, the more I miss Virginia. She just had a certain something, a Southern female touch, a grace, a dignity in movement, an alluring glance, a come-on-hither writing style, a submissive streak, that Nick will never have.
It's not fair that I judge Nick so harshly and that I miss Virginia so terribly, but these are my honest feelings. What can I do? Do you want me to repress who I really am just so that I can suck up to my interview subject?
I stay awake at nights wondering who is hotter? Virginia or Nick?
While my criticisms of Gillespie are numerous (on journalistic, moral, intellectual and personal grounds), I will admit that his picture above is bigger than Virginia's picture.
Thursday night I was out late, way late, observing the human condition on Sunset Blvd. What I saw there deeply disturbed me and I had a troubled night.
My Friday interview with Nick was scheduled for 8AM. I woke up at 8:44am. At 8:45AM, I had Nick on the phone and by 8:46AM I was rolling tape.
My interview was a complete failure. I could not rattle him once. He wouldn't reveal anything to his enormous gay fan base in l-keford.net land, nor what he was thinking about in this photo. Nick refused to take a position on decriminalization bestiality and he had the audacity to claim it wasn't something he thinks about much.
At least Virginia Postrel tells you where she stands on people having sex with dogs. You can say many things about Virginia, but she never equivocated on the love that dare not speak its name.
Interviewing Nick was a lot like interviewing Jenna Jameson. Both have a supreme confidence, have tasted the greatest success (along with a lot of other substances), and no matter what question you ask them, they are always supremely in control, on top of the interviewing, and riding you in the direction they want to go.
If anybody wants phone sex with Nick, they can call him at the Reason Washington D.C. office (202-867-5309) for just one dollar a minute. Proceeds go to the Cato Institute.
The Degeneracy Of Journalists Knows No Limit
Wednesday I tried to do some moral outreach with the young ladies at the latest Los Angeles Press Club party but it was a lost cause -- I didn't have the courage to approach one.
Luckily, Brian Doherty of Reason brought over his friend Marjorie, a secular Jewish experimental filmmaker. I ragged on her for much of the night for not observing the Torah.
When I was a child, my father told me about his experiences at the Sydney Morning Herald. He told me journos were a hard-drinking immoral lot. It has taken me 30 years to realize that he is right.
The party offers free vodka and the journos go to town. Emmanuelle R. drinks far more than is good for her and in her own flesh pays the penalty for her sin.
Cathy S. has three Vodkas. "Not many," she tells me the next day.
11pm. I walk out with Sandra T. L. and Andrew B.. Andrew insists that Sandra opens up the vodka bottle she won during the night's festivities and they start taking shots on the street. The bouncer quite properly moves them along.
I wish I could take a big hose and wash away the filth staining Hollywood Blvd.
I wish I could take a big hose and wash away the filth staining the souls of various beautiful single women at the party.
I wish I could take a big hose and wash away the filth...
Thursday. 11:45AM. I arrive at the Beverly Hills Hotel to hear author Bat Ye'or to speak on her new book Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis before the Wednesday Morning Club.
One small problem. The club no longer meets at the Beverly Hills Hotel. They're now at the Four Seasons, but I only find that out once I arrive home 40-minutes later.
I wish I could take a big hose and wash away the filth infecting my brain and preventing me from seeing the right and the good.
I've got an interview with libertarian writer Nick Gillespie Friday morning. I'm gonna mess him up good. His mug won't look nearly so handsome when I've taken my big verbal hose and washed away the filth that sits like like an octopuss on his brain.
(I think Nick was offered $100,000 to pose naked for Playgirl but he turned it down because he didn't want to overstimulate his employees Brian, Matt Welch and Tim Cavanaugh and have them sue Reason for sexual harassment.)
Journalists who won't date me suck. I wish I could take a big hose and wash away their objections.
I wish I could take a big hose and wash that grey right out of my hair.
I wish I could take a big hose and wash away the years.
I wish I could take a big hose and wash away my fears.
Don't forget, gentle reader (this is really directed at the world at large, but, unfortunately, it is not reading me): "I hate you! I hate you!"
Ira Levine Interview
We talk by phone Tuesday, February 22, 2005.
The previous night I reread much of the 1996 book Coming Attractions, which Ira wrote with the late UCLA psychiatrist Dr. Robert Stoller.
Nina Hartley is in the background as Ira (born 6/13/52) speaks.
Luke: "Tell me about your string of early successes that I read about in Coming Attractions?"
Ira: "Possibly an example of early potential gone wrong... I started writing early. I was one of those guys who always knew what he wanted to do. In the third grade, when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, a writer.
"At age 14, I submitted a freelance fiction piece to Esquire. They didn't want that. They were doing a piece on teeny bopper types in 1968. They wanted me to submit a 1500-word essay on what it was like to be that age. They published it [in January issue?].
"That led to me getting a local column in the Denver Post [Ira grew up in Denver]. This was during the hippie anti-war movement era and they were looking for input for young people. I wrote a weekly opinion column when I was 16 and it was picked up for syndication [by the Des Moine Register syndicate] for four years. At our top, we were running in 120 newspapers a week.
"My first career ended when I was about 20."
Levine's parents were "classic upper-middle-class Jewish liberals." His father was a realtor.
Ira's older brother went the full journalism track and worked at CNN for 14 years.
Ira dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade. He did some talk radio from age 16 to 21.
"I already had a career. I already knew everything. Why should I stay in school? Just ask any 16-year old."
Ira moved to New York at age 21 to "lead the bohemian life of the writer." He was active in the anti-Vietnam war movement.
"I was always interested in sex. I recognized early in my life that my sexuality was differently oriented from other young people.
"I read voraciously about sex. I was a personal liberationist of the sort that was popular in the 1960s and '70s. It was natural that I would be drawn to a world where sexuality was open and unabashed."
Ira speaks so rapidly he has to force himself to take a breath.
"During my freelance journalism career, I interviewed Margaret St. James, who had just founded COYOTE [Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics, organization to decriminalize sex work and to make the lives of sex workers better]. It was the first sex worker organization in this country to achieve any notoriety.
"I found her fascinating. One thing led to another. We got to know each other better [including sexually] as a result of that interview. Much better. I moved out to San Francisco in early 1976. I left in July 1977. Much of that time, we lived together. I got the opportunity to work as a volunteer for COYOTE. I edited their newsletters. Margo was good at figuring out what people were useful for and putting them to work.
"I went on with my other writing efforts. It stuck in my head that [sex work] was an interesting subject area I'd like to know more about.
"I moved to Los Angeles in June 1983 with the vague notion of becoming a mainstream screenwriter. I got my first introduction to the world of porn because it was interwoven with the mainstream. Many mainstream aspiring screenwriters wrote for porn as a nighttime gig. I got a couple of script writing jobs [for porn] through the friend of a friend."
Luke: "At what point did you realize that you were fated to spend most of your [adult] life within the sex industry?"
Ira: "You find yourself in what you thought would be a two-minute situation and it's much more comfortable than it should be. Through those early contacts, I found myself working as a manager at a B-D [Bondage and Discipline] club in downtown Los Angeles. The manager job was no job at all. Your job was to time sessions and put money in a drawer. For a writer, you can't get a better job.
"I had a primitive small computer and I'd drag it into the office and sit and write all day and casually observe the comings and goings.
"One of the women who worked there did some parttime work as a porn performer, Tantala Random, got me [in 1984] a one-time gig rigging bondage on what was supposed to be Marilyn Chambers' last picture (Private Fantasies 6). They were going to pay me $100 to tie up Marilyn Chambers.
"It was such a great gig. Marilyn was sweet. She said, 'I don't care that's it comfortable. Just make me look good.'
"I felt that this was the job I was born to do. Who needs work?
"Of course my next crew jobs weren't like that. On my next gig, I graduated to C-light operator."
Luke: "How much effort have you put in the last ten years to making it in Hollywood?"
Ira: "None.
"I have been strong-armed into what some proposal for some crazy thing that somebody wanted to do.
"My experiences in the mainstream entertainment industry quickly convinced me that it was a far more venal, cruel, miserable, frustrating, rotten business than porn could ever be. When people put down porn as a terrible, degrading, horrible job, I just wonder if they've ever worked at a major studio.
"I had some experience working in mainstream and I met a much worse class of person overall.
"I'm sure I will get in trouble for saying that.
"I found the porn community friendlier. The work was steadier. In mainstream, you can make a killing but not a living. In porn, you can work regularly and have some semblance of a life.
"When I hear people complaining about this business, I think people came in here first and didn't have regular jobs in the real world, which can be unpleasant and exploitative.
"The grifters [thieves] you meet in mainstream entertainment are a lot slicker and therefore they are likely to be able to take much greater advantage.
"I did have a couple of [mainstream] screenplay deals. One produced mainstream feature but I am not going to name it because I am afraid someone might go see it."
Luke: "Go ahead and name it."
Ira: "All right. It's a picture called Man Outside (1986).
"In 1978-80, I worked as a staff writer for DeLaurentiss Productions in London. I got no credits out of that either."
Luke: "Do you have any children?"
Ira, who's slept with hundreds of women: "Nope."
Luke: "Are you sure?"
Ira: "Yep. I have always been careful.
"I have one prior marriage -- from 1986-88. It ended amicably. She's a body piercer."
Luke: "How did the publication of the book Coming Attractions affect your life?"
Ira: "There were some controversial things said in there and some people were critical, but overall, I would say it didn't have a great impact. I was settled in [porn]. It didn't have a huge impact on my life. I thought it would have more of one. I thought it would either jumpstart some literary career or it might have some impact on the work I was already doing in porn. But other than a generous review in AVN and some comments that generated, it came and went quickly."
Luke: "Are you still prone to the depression and mood disorder that Coming Attractions talks about?"
Ira: "The book boosted my morale and there were some other important things that happened in my life then and I began to recover from [depression].
"I began to feel much more centered and secure as my 30s progressed. By the time I was 40, I read back over that stuff and said, who was that guy?
"The last 15 years things have been on the upswing for me, and no medication..."
Luke: "How important do you think the desire to harm is in erotic excitement?"
Ira: "Stoller argued in Observing the Erotic Imagination that "the erotic imagination is energized by an element of harm."
"Stoller's view, which I share, is that the subliminal presence of a feeling of risk/danger/aggression/harm contributes to sexual fantasies, even if the person doing the fantasizing pictures him/herself as the object of some imaginary harm. The desire to harm is quite a different matter, involving direct intent turned toward another. While certainly some sexual fantasies partake of that desire, it doesn't have to apply in specific to every instance for Stoller's speculation to have some validity.
" In short: element of harm - desire to harm - two different things.
"The desire to harm is not a significant element. The desire for an element of risk, edginess and danger is a piece of the puzzle."
Luke: "Do you think that a significant part of the reason men buy pornography is to get vicarious revenge against women?"
Ira: "No. I don't think a vengeful desire motivates even the most hostile porn. That is a more pure animal aggression."
Luke: "Do you think the percentage of men who fear or hate women is higher among male porn consumers than the general public?"
Ira: "Lower. I think regular porn consumers are men who are fascinated by women. I don't think they have the bitter hostility of people who are sexually repressed. I think you will truly find hostility towards women among anti-pornography types who want to ban reproductive choice. Those are the guys who hate women."
Luke: "How did the book affect your relationship with Jim Holliday?"
Ira: "Not at all, oddly. I agree that he doesn't come across in that book as the most likable person. When I talked to him afterwards, in that inimitable fashion of his, he spun it so that it was really a book about him. Rather than seeing it as an attack on him, he saw it as a celebration of his genius in bringing all these bright people together."
Luke: "How long did you know Jim, how well, and how friendly were you?"
Ira: "Long, not terribly, and not terribly friendly. Our disagreement was not over the book but about my fundamental beliefs about porn which he did not share. I felt that porn could be a quality artistic medium. I felt a mission to make porn more intelligent and pitch it towards a more sophisticated audience. Jim saw me as a guy with subversive ideas who would wreck the fun of porn as he had always constructed it.
"Jim and I ran in different circles."
Luke: "How long did you know Robert Stoller and how frequently did you talk to him?"
Ira: "I knew Bob from 1985-89. I saw him at least twice a week. We spent hundreds of hours together.
"He was doing a parallel project on BDSM (bondage domination sado-masochism players) for his book Pain & Passion. In the course of that, it came to light that I was also working in porn. I got to see him regularly for that."
Luke: "How much of a role does the Mafia play in porn?"
Ira: "These days? Very little. The word 'mafia' means nothing in the modern world. It's a shorthand for lazy journalism. I don't think any one group of people has much influence over the direction of the industry anymore. I think that's old."
Luke: "Would it bother you if the role of organized crime was greater than you realized?"
Ira: "I prefer organized crime to disorganized crime. Would it bother me? No more than a lot of other things bother me."
Luke: "Have you gotten paid directly by organized crime?"
Ira: "No."
Luke: "Would it bother you if you were working for an outfit that was funded and controlled by organized crime?"
Ira: "It's almost impossible to draw a paycheck anywhere without somebody somewhere down the line having behavior or politics of which you wouldn't approve. No, I don't consider that to be part of my area of concern. My concern would be over working for anyone I considered a bad person. I judge my personalities, not by their friends."
Luke: "Do you consider people in organized crime bad people?"
Ira: "I don't know. If they are criminals, they are probably not nice people, though that is not necessarily true."
Luke: "Do you want to turn a blind eye towards the role of organized crime in the [porn] industry?"
Ira: "I never turn a blind eye to anything."
Luke: "What percentage of your peers would work in child pornography if it was legal?"
Ira: "None. Zero. Zip. It's not a legality matter."
Luke: "All the pioneers of the industry [Reuben Sturman, Paul Wisner, Milton Luros], when it was quasi-legal, did deal in child pornography."
Ira: "Do you know that?"
Luke: "Yep. All the pioneers of the industry did when they could. After Congress passed stiff laws against in it 1977, they stopped."
Ira: "I don't know that's true. No one has ever told me anything to that effect. Two, I think there's been a general consciousness raising in the society about the need to protect children from exploitation in labor of all sorts. The porn industry follows the curve of public opinion. You'd have a hard time finding anyone in porn who says it is ok to shoot minors."
Luke: "Do you support lowering the age of consent?"
Ira: "To 16. Young people are going to experiment with sex. I'm not sure that criminalizing the first few years of it does anything constructive."
Luke: "Would the Ira Levine of Coming Attractions regard the industry as responsible enough to police itself vis-a-vis sexually transmitted diseases?"
Ira: "Yes."
Luke: "In the book you say that porn equals prostitution. Have you changed your mind on that?"
Ira: "Out of all the things I said that I wish I could unsay, that would be first on the list. Bob Stoller tried everything to talk me out of that. He even disagreed in the book. I was trying to draw a parallel between porn and other kinds of sex work.
"There's always been a snobbery among people in different branches of sex work. I do this but I don't do that. I strip but I don't hook. I work in BDSM but I don't escort. As time has gone by, there's emerged a more communitarian feeling among sex workers.
"The community of performers has expanded it has brought in a greater variety. When I came in, there was a couple of hundred. Now there's a couple of thousand."
Luke: "On page 94, you say about interviewing people in porn: 'Almost all will give you a variation of the party line... You're almost always better off with a younger... performer. Out of the mouths of these babes come things closer to the truth.'
"I'm thinking about you. You were far more critical and far less concerned about the consequences of what you said in this book than you are today in this interview."
Ira: "Yes, because like lots of young people, I did not know as much as I thought I did.
"I wouldn't retract that initial observation...but they can also be wrong because they may not know much. The longer I've been here, the less obvious and clearcut things seem to be. Reality has set in. You watch people over 20 years and you see all kinds of contradictory behavior.
"That is what Robert was trying to tell me at the time.
"I was more blunt then but I wasn't more accurate."
Luke: "You're certainly more party-line today."
Ira: "I don't know that there is such a thing as a party-line."
Luke: "You said in the book: "By the time...you've been in this business ten years, it's very central to your life. So any attack on this business is an attack on your whole...life. You defend it to your last breath. Nina [Hartley] gets up there with a baseball bat ready to take on anyone with anything bad to say about the X-rated business...' That sounds like you."
Ira: "I've never been an uncritical defender of everything about this business. If I were, I'd have a much easier and more profitable life. I've made my share of enemies here by being outspoken.
"People who oppose pornography have a far more hostile agenda towards sex than anyone in the industry possibly could. I will defend this business against people who vary from cynically corrupt to simply fanatical and loony."
Luke: "You set up a straw man. Everybody in the industry has parts of the industry they're willing to criticize. That doesn't make you different from Steve Hirsch or Paul Fishbein. The degree to which you are willing to criticize the industry isn't much different from the degree to which all the leaders of the industry are willing to criticize it."
Ira: "I agree. You will find in any industry that people who stay in it for a long time wouldn't do so if they thought it was a bad enterprise. If I had a broad systemic critique of the industry as a whole, I'd be making that from the outside, not the inside."
Luke: "Why on earth would you equate opposition to pornography with opposition to sex when many of the religious people who oppose porn are married, have kids and may well have flourishing sex lives?"
Ira: "That depends on how you construct the idea of sexuality. If you construct it narrowly, then of course they are not enemies of sex. If you consider sex should only be for procreation, I consider that a narrow view that is unfriendly to any sex but their own."
I'm opposed to many forms of fire, such as fires that burn down homes and blaze out of control. I support other forms of fire, such as those fires that warm a fireplace and cook a meal. Anti-porn crusaders support sex within marriage but oppose sex publicly performed and distributed. That's hardly anti-sex anymore than opposing forest fires makes you anti-fire.
I'm sure there are forms of sexual expression, such as rape and incest and adult-child sex, that Ira wants to stay criminalized. And I am sure that most anti-porn activists are not agitating to make non-marital sex between adults, in private, illegal. So both sides support criminalizing various forms of sexual expression and legalizing other forms. It is just as dishonest to call one side anti-sex as it is to call pornographers pro-incest because some of their films romanticize incest (the original Taboo films where Tom Byron has sex with his "mom" Gloria Leonard).
Luke: "Why are you using this dishonest argument that people opposed to pornography are opposed to sex when almost everyone opposed to pornography supports sex within certain contexts?"
Ira repeats his answer. "Why aren't they satisfied observing those particular views in their own life and not force them on everyone else?"
Luke: "You are forcing your views on everyone else that pornography should be legal."
Ira: "I'm not trying to force those views."
Luke: "Do you believe that pornography should be legal?"
Ira: "Yes. But I wouldn't force anyone else to agree."
Luke: "You want to create a country where pornography is legal."
Ira: "Absolutely."
Luke: "So that's forcing your views on everyone else."
Ira: "I hardly agree. I'm not trying to force people to consume it. They're the ones who want to make it not free to do it. Let's not try to switch shoes on feet. I'm not trying to restrict other people's choices. They're trying to restrict my choices."
Luke: "You're trying to restrict their choice to live in a society not drenched with pornography."
Ira: "They may want to do that, but unfortunately for them, they represent a minority in society, and even if they represented a majority, they would still not have the right to force their restrictive views on how sexuality should be expressed."
Luke: "You don't see any part of what you're advocating as forcing your beliefs on other people?"
Ira: "Not in the slightest. If they don't like it, don't look.
"I believe the charge that society is being buried in pornography is false. You still have to be 18. You still have to get access to it. You still have to seek it out and find it. It's perfectly possible to live a long life in this society with very little exposure to pornography."
Luke: "On page 95 of your book, you say: 'No matter how often an outwardly charming, intelligent, likable, well-adjusted person sits up there on the Donahue Show and says, 'We're charming, likable, well-adjusted human beings,' no one is fooled. Everyone knows they're looking at a carefully trained, carefully chosen anomally. The public's idea about this industry is probably not far removed from the kind of industry it is: exploitative, with marginal personalities who can't integrate into society, self-destructive people living self-destructive lives.'"
Ira: "Wow, that was certainly a powerful statement. Good writing.
"Gee, I wish I could summon that level of indignation these days. That may have been a reflection of my own frustrations with the business. I was trying to break in.
"This business has changed a great deal in the years in between."
Luke: "Is it any less exploitative? Are the people in it any less self-destructive?"
Ira: "Yes to both questions. In those days, it was an industry with few options and choices. I meet all kinds of people now who are different from the people I met in 1984 when I first came in. There were more rebellious personalities working out issues choosing a career with more of an outlaw tinge. I don't think that is as true anymore. I think it has become an arm of the entertainment business overall. There is hardly a thing that you could say about pornography that you could not say with accuracy about the mainstream entertainment business, which is a harsh environment that chews up newcomers even more than porn does."
Luke: "What percentage of talent in this industry would you guess were sexually abused as kids?"
Ira: "It's not knowable. Another generalization I made back then was that there was a whole lot of them. I don't have any kind of statistical answer."
Luke: "Do you have a commonsensical answer?"
Ira: "It's not a matter of commonsense. There's a lot of sexual abuse out there. Perhaps in porn more people admit it."
Luke: "From the top of page 97: 'Most people in this business refuse to face the responsibilities of adult life. This business lets people extend the dysfunctional pattern of their families late into adulthood. That's why, no matter how old they are, performers are always referred to as boys and girls. They will always be infantilized by the business, and they will always be in the role of incest and abuse and molestation victims...'"
Ira: "Robert [Stoller] pleaded with me not to put that in there. I wish I'd listened. I don't think that was true then and I don't think it is true now.
"I had some sexual abuse in my own background and I think that colored my view of everything. I think I was talking more about me."
Luke: "Here you are talking about Nina and yourself: 'We both agreed we were self-invented characters. She is a sexual utopian, a believer in partner sharing and nonmonogamy, like me. A relentless propagandist for her point of view -- how society would be better off if everybody adopted these unconventional views: 'Pornographic films should be propaganda.' I hate propaganda... Propaganda is a dishonest art form."
Ira: "Some of that was said tongue-in-cheek. Nina and I were friends then.
"What I meant to say is that I am not a sexual utopian in the same way. I think sex has a light and a dark side. Nina, to a much greater extent, is an optimist.
"I don't think that if people led more sexually liberated lives, society would be a more harmonious place. It would be a place with happier individuals. Overall, do I think sexual repression is harmful for society? Yes. Do I think that porn has the primary responsibility for spreading that message? No. It's an artistic creative entertainment medium."
Luke: "Do you and Nina have many arguments about propaganda versus art?"
Ira: "No. I can't remember we've ever had that argument.
"I can be accused of being unconstructive in the same way as [playwright] Samuel Beckett. I'm likely to point to the unpleasant fact even if it is not necessarily the most important fact. It is just the one that engages my attention. Nina is a much sunnier personality."
Luke: "I haven't heard you pointing at unpleasant facts Beckett-like in our interview."
Ira: "Those facts are not necessarily about pornography."
Luke: "The Ira Levine in this book used to point out a lot of unpleasant facts about pornography."
Ira: "I'm not sure they were facts. They were opinions."
Luke: "Is it convenient that all your changes of opinion from this book make it easier for you to work in this industry?"
Ira: "No, they don't make it easier for me. Few offices that I go in to pitch deals have a copy of Coming Attractions sitting on the desk."
Luke: "I know, but if you were to say the same things now that you said in that book you'd be ostracized."
Ira: "Hardly. I can't think there's anything you could say that would prevent you from getting work. There are people who've had dark visions of sexuality who've done well in this business, such as Greg Dark. He never made any secret that sexual alienation powered his work. He got into this business by making an anti-porn documentary. He showed that around to various producers as his demo reel. That's what got him hired."
Luke: "It would be hard for you to be chair of AIM if you kept saying some of the things in this book."
Ira: "It was some of the things I was saying in that book that got me the chair of AIM. AIM will always be a controversial lightning rod. One of the reasons I became involved in AIM is that it is known that I am not in the pocket of any particular interest."
Luke: "Page 220: 'Whereas when we finish our day's work, we go into lives no more adult than those depicted on the tape.'"
Ira: "We get more ambitious people these days. It used to be more about people drifting in here looking for a quick buck. Now you have people with the dream of becoming big names and big celebrities. It's no longer an employer of last result. It's something people seek out. It used to be a place for unambitious people. Half of the guys of whom I would've said that 20 years ago now own big thriving production companies. It's not the slacker business it once was."
Luke: "You said: 'Part of the reason you see depression and suicide among us is genetic and biochemical and part is low self-esteem resulting from the way we live, the way society views the way we live, and out inability to see it as anything but moral weakness. I see this in myself. I see myself as a pretty well-adjusted madman.'"
Ira: "That was my opinion of myself then. I was projecting on to the world my own gloomy mindset. That same thing could be said of many of the aspiring personality types in mainstream. Suicide and depression and other things associated with porn are equally to be found in other branches of entertainment."
Luke: "Another quote: 'Not that there aren't rewards in this life. You get validation... Overall, the rewards have been less than the price paid. Five years ago I would have said, 'No, no, I love the way I am. It's liberating, it's wonderful, everyone should be like me, I wouldn't let it go for anything.' My feeling now is that I would be better off without it. I bought at too high a cost the existential freedom I enjoy as one of society's outlaws. The older I get, the less appealing it is.'"
Ira laughs: "That's depression talking. It's not as bad as if you went back to my highschool newspaper and read some of the things I wrote then. There's a narcissistic quality to that writing.
"I don't feel that way now. Now my life is good."
Luke: "Another quote: 'When you get performers to talk about incest, you will be amazed... Performers want to deny this is a factor... Y saying, 'Yeah, I was molested a couple of times when I was a kid, but I don't tell people that on talk shows. I don't want them to conclude that that's the reason I ended up as an X-rated performer...'"
Ira: "To some extent, that is true. People in this industry have been tarred as a bunch of victims who are only acting out the things that were imprinted on them when they were young. They are understandably defensive and prickly about talking about the things that happened to them when they were young. Most people lie about [these things]. It does not make for good social conversation."
Luke: "If you had to choose between a Marxist and a Freudian interpretation for why people go into sex work, would you still choose a Freudian one?"
Ira: "Nope. I would choose neither.
"If you look at sex work worldwide, the Marxist model works better. People are poor and their opportunities to advance themselves are small."
Luke: "What do you think the Ira Levine of 1988 would say if he heard the previous 90-minutes?"
Ira: "I think that Ira Levine would go, you go, dude. I never knew you had it in you."
Luke: "Any chance that the Ira Levine of 17 years ago would say that the Ira Levine of 2005 is Panglossian [over-positive]?"
Ira: "No."
Luke: "Have you become a relentless propagandist for porn?"
Ira: "No. I may be relentless but I'm not much of a propagandist. That's the tag people try to hang on me. Early in my porn career, the tag they used to try to hang on me was spoilsport. Wet blanket. Killjoy. Guy who should keep his mouth shut about this business. Now, you're in the pocket of the bosses. You're speaking for the guys who run the industry."
Luke: "And none of those perceptions of you that you just derided have truth to them?"
Ira: "I don't think so. I still manage to piss off people with things I say."
Luke: "Nobody who could put money in your pocket."
Ira: "I've quit all kinds of jobs."
Luke: "You're not saying things today that could take money out of your pocket."
Ira: "Hmm. The money that comes into my pocket is mostly derived from one or two sources with which I have no problem."
Luke: "When was the last time you quit a job in this business that was putting significant money in your pocket?"
Ira: "In 1997. I quit has head of production of a company where I was unhappy about the way they were treating people. There were a whole bunch of quits on principle in 1993-94 in the first HIV-scare. Since then, I've refused to work for companies that do not allow condom use. I used to think that condoms should be mandatory in the industry. I now know that's a pipedream and can't happen. I still feel that should be an option available to performers. That puts me out of line of a whole bunch of jobs that could put money in my pocket. I'd say that just about 60% of possible directing gigs went out the door. I won't even take a gig with companies who underpay people.
"As one gets older, one choosees one's battles more carefully. You can't fight them all and win.
"One thing that I find most upsetting is that I get accused of having all kinds of selfish motives for my participation in AIM.
"I make no money from doing it. I get a lot of grief. It's a lot of work."
Luke: "How satisfied are you that monies donated to AIM are properly accounted for?"
Ira: "I am quite satisfied, particularly at this point. We have good procedures now for tracking everything."
I read Ira some of Tony Montana's comments about AIM's accounting procedures. Ira has no comment: "If I were to spend my days answering everybody who had some vague claim of malfeasance in the structure of AIM, I would have no time to do the job I do."
Luke: "Wow, if there are that many comments about malfeasance at AIM..."
Ira: "No. I will stop you right there. It's not that there are that many people, it's that the same people, the same dozen people, never let up on this subject. AIM has few detractors. They are just noisy. As long as the vast majority of performers test at AIM and the vast majority of producers accept AIM tests, that's a testimonial for how good a job we're doing. People vote every month with their tests."
Luke: "That's in part because industry leaders [AVN, Free Speech Coalition] have made AIM the monopoly for industry STD testing. Do you support keeping AIM the monopoly for industry testing?"
Ira: "AIM was a bottom-up organizing effort that many producers were not thrilled to see.
"As for the monopoly, this is not the place where market economics is the best model. The fire department is also a monopoly and there is a good reason for that -- so that there can be consistency of standards. If you had a whole bunch of clinics doing different tests with different reporting forms...the chances of the error rate would go up.
"I take my share of lumps as I go to your website and others... If I were that kind of guy, a completely self-seeking sinister manipulative character, none of you would know anything about it. I'd be very rich. I'd have a house in Encino. And I would be invisible. I've had many opportunities to go that career track and I've always chosen to be public about my life and my point of view. I value the enmity of some of the people who don't like me. I get most of my criticism from trying to do what's right instead of simply taking care of myself."
Luke: "Let me present a challenge to what you just said: Maybe you have fewer talents for making money than making controversy?"
Ira: "Oh no, I make lots of money. I've been very successful. I've made about 700 movies. The instructional line Nina and I do for Adam & Eve has sold over 500,000 pieces. I've hardly had a day of unemployment in the last twelve years."
Does Nudity Sell?
Sex in movies, especially if it results in an "R" or "NC-17" rating, is now a triple liability: It hurts first at the theaters, then at the video store, and finally on broadcast TV.
For the theatrical release, the MPAA issues a rating that theaters must abide by. While its "G" ("general audiences") and "PG" ("parental guidance") ratings permit anyone to buy a ticket, its "R" ("restricted") rating excludes all children and younger teenagers who are not accompanied by an adult, and its "NC-17" ("no children") rating excludes anyone under the age of seventeen. In practice, this means that if a theater books a movie with a restricted rating, some of its employees, who might otherwise be selling popcorn, are required to check the identity documents of the teenage audience. To avoid this inconvenience, especially during holiday periods when the teen audience is at its peak, theater owners often resist booking such films-at least in their larger auditoriums. In addition, children-oriented cable networks, such as Nickelodeon, do not accept TV ads for movies with restricted ratings. As a result, the more restrictive the rating, the less money a film makes in the theaters. Virtually every economic analysis of box office earnings demonstrates that G and PG earn more money in theaters than R and NC-17.
Police shut down BU porn magazine release party
"I expected more nudity," complained one Boston University student at the release party for BU's new porn magazine Boink.
Compared to the full-frontal male and female nudity inside the new magazine, the release party at the Roxy on Thursday was quite tame. Large ice luges in the shape of male and female genitalia were the only open demonstration of private parts at the club, other than the pictures featured in the 96 page inaugural issue.
Fred writes:
Boink magazine (mentioned on lukeisback.com) surprises me. I have to believe that if a girl is photographed in her college porn magazine, a) she will have no anonymity; b) that will certainly screw up the way she is perceived by her fellow students (not to mention professors); and c) it will haunt her in the same way that it would haunt any other porn star.
Query: how many Boston University students would be willing to be photographed for a porn magazine? Things can't be that different from the time when I was an undergrad.
Query: if it is "socially acceptable" at BU to be a porn model, is it socially acceptable to be a hooker?
Luke, what percentage of college students would be willing to be photographed boinking do you suppose? (I have to believe that it's extremely small.)
Khunrum writes:
I believe that things are vastly different since you were an undergraduate. We read many accounts of women doing the o'l boom-boom to "work" their way through college.
In Asia university girls are boinking older businessmen in vast numbers to pay for tuition, Gucci gear and a trendy lifestyle. They may have multiple Sugar Daddy's taking care of them. I believe the same-same is going on in this country.
'Deep Throat' Numbers Just Don't Add Up
Michael Hiltzik writes in The LA Times:
We're talking about a movie that was released in 1972, banned in half the country and generally exhibited in one theater at a time even in the biggest cities, such as New York and Los Angeles.
The average U.S. ticket price in 1972, according to the Motion Picture Assn. of America, was $2.05. By 1980, when the "Deep Throat" phenomenon was way played out, the average was still only $2.69.
For the movie to have made $600 million at the box office, in other words, it would have had to sell tickets to enough customers to populate the entire United States one and a half times over.
Well, ticket prices for Deep Throat ranged from $5-$10 each.
Mr. Metro Says: Deadbeat Kenny Guarino Pays Promises to Metro Employees With Lies
Mr Metro posts:
Hardworking Metro Employee Fired For Reminding Kenny's General Manager About Promised But Unpaid Raise.
Monday, Metro brought in it's new Art Dept. (refugees from LFP), and on Wednesday, fired Art Dept. loyal staffer Alan Teel after 22 months of his hard work "...keeping Metro together..." as longtime and now stepping down Art Dept. Manager Gustavo Chavarria said weeks ago in Gus' recent employee review of Alan.
Alan was hired for Metro by respected former GM Joey Wilson on may 5 2003 until unceremoniously let go Wed. Feb 23 2005, for "things Alan said yesterday which got back to me" said current feckless Metro GM Rick JiffyLube Boy Porras.
The things said which shattered Rick's conceited ego may have been Alan's being sick of rick's speaking down to one with rick's phony "my friend" and his creepy hand on your shoulder, and that the emperor has no clothes at metro. Please let it be known that Kenny Guarino is a lying deadbeat who pays his promises in lies.
Metro also fired veteran artist Noel Campos last year. Just why is still the question; was it that Noel dared to use his earned "Paid Time Off" and raised Kenny's ire at not working 40 hours every week? Jiffy Lube rick told Noel "Metro is cutting back," but Metro promptly increased it's production schedule over 100%, with Alan being the only artist left at metro. For all his hard work in the art dept., Alan was promised a raise by Kenny last summer, speaking through Gustavo: "...Alan is pre-approved, all he has to do is wait 'till Oct 27th 2004..."
Well, that raise Kenny PROMISED was never lived up to by Kenny, his limping cross-eyed goon Les, or anyone else who signs checks at Metro. So please let it be known that Kenny Guarino is a lying deadbeat who pays his promises with a big f--- you delivered by Kenny's feckless no-industry-experience general managers, the latest one being jiffy lube boy Rick Porras.
Porras is the one who tried to pass the buck saying "Alan's complaint is with Keith and Gus" - No, they tried all they could to get metro to live up to it's promises, it was Jiffy Lube Porras and Kenny who f---ed alan.
Metro is a f---ing nightmare to work for; where hard work is rewarded with f--- you; feckless GM jiffy lube boy Rick Porras got his back covered by Alan after Art Dept. Manager Gustavo dramatically walked out in disgust - jiffy lube boy kept babbling "there's no time" and he did not know his ass from a bumper hitch about what he needed to go to press with an ad at the last minute -jiffy lube boy rick was ready to go to press with a proof only disk until Alan saved rick's bacon schooling him in what was needed to go to press - Alan had your back rick, only to have you stab his.
Three new lambs were brought aboard for the slaughter, from Larry Flynt Productions: Art Director Maryann and her bobsy twins Bonnie and Bob Richey - And Alan was let go that week! This after Alan being told he was keeping metro together - did Bob rat Alan out for telling him Bob only changed dreams when Bob mentioned leaving a nightmare at LFP? Or was it the shaking chihuahua Leo ( who's dick does HE suck?), the one who got a such a great deal on VHS blank tapes, he bought the company enough blank vhs tapes that metro will have them long after the format is dead - wait, it IS dead!? And really, does Leo get kickbacks from the replicating companies? Did Leo go crying to rick that Alan told Leo to take his f---ing hand off Alan's shoulder, don't copy jiffy lube boy's phony bulls---?
Alan has gone to the wall for metro only to be f---ed in the ass by them more than Bridgette Kerkove has. It has been reported that Gustavo was overworked at metro - and Alan has been the only one keeping Gustavo's art dept. together there! - and despite getting the highest review by Gus, Alan has been screwed consistently by Metro, who has refused to acknowledge Alan's promised raise other than to have given him the runaround before firing him for all his hard work. Alan had been commuting, (ill with a cold made worse by mildewed carpet in what had been "his office", then made sick by replacement new carpet glue fumes) through record breaking downpour rains, by motorcycle!
Monday Alan was displaced to the middle the general office floor, sitting in new guy Bob Richey's lap, throw out of what had been "Alan's office" that such a big deal was made of to Alan - "Here's your keys, Alan!" But now it is the new Art Director's office. The one in which Alan was micro-managed to the point of being told which way to face and sit according to Kenny's whim of the day and Kenny's precious interior decorator - did you know Metro has a fiberglass pirate climbing a rope in the foyer? The Art Dept. servers were crashing, the network was in and out more times than Gauge was a contract star, but the most important thing was a f---ing fiberglass toy pirate! Please let it be known that Kenny Guarino is a deadbeat liar who promises his hard working metro employees raises which are paid off with a stab to the back.
Did you know about the quarter million in product former metro salesman Seth had delivered to himself no charge? Seth bought, not rented, his own box bed truck to haul away metro product delivered to ghost addresses. All this while Kenny's last feckless former GM Neil Persky was sniffing mexican warehousemen's backpacks for onsie-twosies out the back door? How Seth was shacking up with metro contract star Annmarie, oops, former contract star, too much cocaine... How he paid sixteen grand cash down on his new lexus, the one blocked in and repossessed at metro when they confronted him? How Seth's rich family made restitution keeping him out of jail? Or did that story get spiked from AVN because of the quarter million in advertising Kenny bought?
You know sales walked out last week - only Mara still there who hasn't sold one unit but still acts like she walks on water.
Director Tommy Gunn has been told not to call metro offices again.
Keith O'Connor got electrocuted grabbing art dept. macs out of a puddle when metro offices flooded in december rains. Early one morning Alan found Keith on the floor literally knocked out of his shoes and mumbling. Keith stumbled to his feet only to throw up, and was dingy all week. Alan then waded on in wearing his motocross boots and rescued the rest of the equipment & data files. Keith has balls, unlike Kenny. Keith gave Alan a one hundred dollar bill out of Keith's own pocket as a tip late one night for working on that Metro Catalog abortion - the one which had some secretary back east empowered by an on-vacation Kenny to oversee the catalog, who faxed in pointless, insane and conflicting changes every day, and past deadline to boot. "Make the headlines red!" one day and "Make the headlines white!" the next day. This from a woman whose layout experience consisted of moving her plush stuffed toy animals around on her bed. And done by Alan on an aging old mac which kept crashing and destroying the huge QuarkXPress file. (The new refugees from LFP had brand-new G5s and big, new flat screen monitors waiting for THEM their first day, thank you).
The roof catastrophically leaked into the new bldg. which Kenny & Les Rich signed off on. (Les is the partner who had a magic calculator which told him how many "red hot tv" titles oughta be converted to proprietary broadcast format until Alan proved the equipment Les bought didn't work and the project was shipped back east to Paul the tech that sold it to metro - the guy who's company couldn't let it be known they had a PORN client or else lose other mainstream clients).
Director Skeeter who used to be a regular has not been seen in weeks.
Director Mike Adam has been scarce too.
Sex and the Studio returned loaned electronic equipment which looked like it had been left in the rain after falling off a truck and being busted open.
If Scott Del Amo's mainstream clients knew he was porn director Hank Spain they would walk.
What Metro director delivered a title which prominently featured a location shot of a HIGH SCHOOL opening the porn tape?
So you can add the name Kenny Guarino, Bently-driving owner of Metro to that list of deadbeats you have been reporting on. Kenny makes false promises to his employees and then pays off in lies and betrayal.
Metro sales are so bad that Kenny was required to put Metro payroll on his credit card for the first time last week...
Lara Roxx vs T.T. Boy
Lara Roxx and her lawyers are not as dumb as you think. The outcome of the OSHA appeal is going to shape the lawsuit that will be filed. They have plenty of time to wait before filing the suit. And seeing how the industry and TT Boy inparticular have not changed the standard operating procedures, this lawsuit will be a slam dunk when it is filed.
Reading some other sites I've put together a little timeline
Darren james: neg hiv tests on 1/15-2/12-3/17-positive4/9 (these are the dates the blood samples were collected)
Lara Roxx: neg hiv tests 3/20 positive 4/13
Jessica Dee: neg hiv tests 2/17-3/9 positive 4/27
Miss Arroyo: neg hiv tests 2/9-3/8 positive 4/30
Jessica worked with darren according to the now infamous q-list on 3/23. Lara worked with darren on 3/24. Miss arroyo worked with darren on 3/30. There has been the speculation that when Darren worked with Lara in canada some months prior to this that that is when Lara infected darren, but with darrens and laras negative tests between that time and the timeline in question here makes that possibility virually non existant.
So if jessica worked with darren on the 23rd and darren worked with lara on the 24th how did jessica get infected if it was indeed lara who infected darren. Jesica and lara never had any contact with eachother. Everyone in the industry has been aware of this timeline but for some reason there are still those who speculate that lara infected darren.
Throw in the genetic subtyping of the test and you can see that this is a slam dunk case.
And dont think for one minute that the others involved here are not working an their own lawsuits. They are all waiting for the OSHA appeal before filing. If TT had any sense he'd be working out deals right now. Maybe he already has, but the settlements contain gag orders which dont allow him to publicly comment about them.
And the beautiful thing is the evidence is on video tape, along with the 2257 paperwork which shows the dates of production, and names of those involved. TT could have simply shelved, or destroyed the tapes...
Porn star Mandy Taylor writes:
I am not new in the industry. But I will tell you.... When i first came to CA 2-3years ago it was thru an asshole nobody agent named dominick. I was thrown out into the waters and wasnt told a damned thing. He flew me out there and dropped me off at plces and did not tell me what I would be doing. I was however smart enough to call aim to ask about the test. I was also smart enough to hide in some damned bushes after pretending to be sick to stay back at his place and not go out to eat. And had someone else come rescue my ass. The agent was insane and was on the phone threatening to break some girls legs and telling her he was going to call her parents and mail them what she had been doing and such. 2-3yrs down the line I am much smarter. I wont take anything but an AIM test and proud to say Im 100% clean. And only going thru reputable agents.
As for posting on the boards about it, I really dont care. I made a mistake but the test was real. And I am not afraid to admit my mistakes. There are people who wont work with me because I have done an american bukkake scene (which i dont regret ).
I do take HIV very seriously, when i work in the midwest I test thru the mail thru AIM and no one else. Certainly wish I wasnt a complete moron years ago, but thankfully I lived to learn. And its a mistake that will never be repeated and I spend alot of time educating the girls in the midwest here who are new in the business and do my best to keep others from making them as well.
The Smoking Fetish
Kelly Allen writes:
For someone without a smoking fetish, the desire to see, and read, about porn stars smoking, must seem ludicrous. This whole "foot fetish thing," for instance, to me, is totally ridiculous. For, all I can think of, when I see a woman's bare feet and toes, in a man's mouth, is, "hoof and mouth" disease, and, of course, even "worse," of a malady, when a woman's bare toes, are squeezed around a penis. In other words, my friend, we ALL have our little "quirks," and what turns one man on, is "anathema" to another.
I doubt, if you are even aware of this fact, since you could care less about our fetish, but female smoking scenes in adult films, occur LESS, than on the Disney Channel! That is a sad indictment, indeed, for an industry, predicated on exploiting, and capitalizing, on the so-called, "bad girl," character trait, of which, of course, SMOKING, is one of the most obvious,"outward" traits, of that character.
Over many decades, mainstream Hollywood film directors, have utilized the cigarette prop, as a most valuable tool, to accentuate, sexy feminine character roles, such as in the film noir, "femme fatale," classic period of the 40's and 50's. In fact, it was through seeing, and lusting after, those sexy "smoking" women of that era's Hollywood films-- Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Rhonda Fleming, ad infinitem,-- that the fetish, for me, and a "huge" number of men in my age bracket, was incubated.
I still remember, with excitement, many of those "slick" movie promo posters, with illustrations of sexy movie stars, displaying that sultry, penetrating look, and ALWAYS, a cigarette dangling, from ruby, red lips. Thus, it was perfectly "natural" for me to anticipate, with much glee, the time, when sexy female cigarette (not cigar) smoking scenes, would be an integral part of practically every adult film, both in "set-up" seduction scenes and, even more of a turn-on, that after-sex, relaxation smoke, which, in a smoking woman's life, ALWAYS takes place.
Here, I'm writing from memorable personal experiences, btw. I might add here, that I have seen MORE than my share of porn over the years, and I can recall only ONE film, showing the above type of "post-sex" smoking/dialogue scenario.
If this letter, has the tone of much frustration to it, then it has achieved its goal, for, to our "smokerhood," that huge and ever-growing, (thanx to America's anti-smoking societal pressures) brotherhood of smoke fetishist, the adult film community, has TRULY let us down! Perhaps, the most vivid example of just how porn directors have "kowtowed," to the industry's self-annointed health czar, Paul Fishbin, a well-known anti-smoking advocate, is in the works of director Bud Lee. The man, has made "hundreds" of films over the years, and NEVER, in the ones I have seen, has he filmed a woman, smoking a cigarette. To illustrate, I recall, one of Lee's films, set in a brothel, in which a number of scantily clad ladies, were filmed in the opening scene, in what was obviously, the reception lounge. The camera shot, was at a distance, and slowly panned to a closer view. ALL of the women, had a long white object, in their mouth, which caused, "John Henry," to "wiggle," a bit. "AT LAST!" I said to myself, "Bud, has finally heard our cry." But, then, as the camera drew to a tighter shot, what I, had envisioned as sexy cigarettes, dangling from the lips of the women, were LOLLIPOPS!
Now, I ask, ANYONE who might read this frustrating account, WHAT could be more unrealistic than the filmed sight of a bunch of sexy prostitutes, relaxing on a couch, sucking on ### (multiple curse words) LOLLIPOPS! The above story, to me, Luke, dramatically shows just how "low," adult film directors, will bow, to stay in Fishbein, and his "minion of minnows" at AVN's good graces, and thus, get favorable film reviews.
If you don't believe, what I'm writing, you should, go back and read AVN reviews, of the very few adult films, with smoking scenarios. In ALL reviews, some snide comment, was written against the smoking. To build even more of my case against Paul Fishbin's dictatorial behavior, regarding smoking, I met the late "great" Savannah several years ago, and asked her, why female smoking was such a rarity in porn films. According to her, "that little "dickhead," Paul Fishbein, does not like smoking."
She, then told me a personal story, about how she was riding with AVN's people to the awards show one evening, and casually lit up a cigarette. The limousine driver, stopped the car, at Fishbein's command, and Savannah was told by (her words) "the little twirp," to,"squash it, or walk." Savannah, then told me, that she had to "go to battle" with various directors everytime she attempted to smoke on film sets. It, ESPECIALLY, pleased me to hear from Savannah, that smoking requests from fans, was, in her words, "very frequent."
This was BEFORE the internet boom, and it was gratifying for me to know, that I was not alone, in my fetish. Now, however, I never cease to be AMAZED at the HUGE number of web sites, catering to our fetish. A HELL of a lot more in number, than the "afeetchewontoes," crowd.
Take Care, Luke, and don't get discouraged, for you're one of the VERY FEW reporters out in the valley, who, "tells it like it is," and a LOT of us, REALLY appreciate that personal trait. So, keep on, "dishing the dirt," and know, that your efforts are appreciated. And, of course, keep shooting those candid smoking pxs of porn stars, for us.....Kelly
The New Screw Review
J.R. Taylor writes in the New York Press:
Not even Sharon Mitchell's new-wave coif can get me to the Museum of Sex's book release party for Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne's The Other Hollywood. There's nothing to celebrate about this Please Kill Me-style oral history of adult filmmaking-unless it's the last sad gasp of Legs establishing himself as a gullible hipster who believes anything he's told.
Word quickly got out about Legs once he started making the porn rounds. It was already common for skin merchants to con gullible cretins like the New York Times' Frank Rich or reporters from 60 Minutes. Legs, however, settled in for the long grift. He's now spent several years spouting revisionist history on places like the E! Channel for his new masters, and no one's sure if he's bright enough to realize he's a bitch.
As an experiment, I've randomly flipped open The Other Hollywood to see how long it would take to find a painfully obvious cover story. Got one on the third try, and I'm no kind of porn insider. That's not to say that the book is a whitewash. Just keep in mind that nearly everyone in its pages is sleazier than they already seem.
Lori Wagner Interview
I met Lori at the FOXE Awards Sunday night.
Johnny Keyes, Lori Wagner Lori Wagner Lori Wagner, Alicia Rio Lori, Alicia Cumisha Amado, Lori Wagner, Alicia Rio Lori Wagner, Ron Jeremy
We chat by phone Wednesday morning, February 23, 2005.
Duke: "When you were a girl, what did you want to be when you grew up?"
Lori: "I wanted to be a clinical psychologist or a CPA or a singer. Singing won out. I went to acting school on the lot at Screen Gems Columbia."
Duke: "What did your parents want for you?"
Lori: "They let me do what I wanted. I was thinking about that recently because I am writing a book about my life. I realize that my mom was trying to do the right thing by not stifling me.
"My parents didn't get around much. I was an only child. My mother had never taken a commercial flight until a couple of years. Because she didn't have experience in many areas, she couldn't tell me certain things."
Duke: "What did other people expect from your life?"
Lori: "I don't think I had any people who expected anything.
"I grew up in Hacienda Heights, which is between Whittier and La Puente."
Duke: "What kind of student were you?"
Lori: "I was a great student. I was not a dummy. I was a B, B+, average. I don't remember my SAT. I don't think I did that well. The SATs had a lot of math. I went to Cal State Long Beach. I only went for one semester."
Duke: "What kind of crowd did you hang out with in highschool?"
Lori: "Wow! You are fascinating. You're asking me some really interesting questions.
"I had a best friend named Marcia. She was hip and more mature than I. She was already having sex with boys. I was a cheerleader most every year in school. I was very straight. My dad was strict with me.
"Other kids experimented with marijuana. I'd always refuse and never smoke it. Every time I was out with my friends and I'd get home, my mother would be looking in my eyes and trying to find out if I had been experimenting with anything. After being put through that for about a year, I thought, well, if I'm going to be accused of doing it, I might as well try it. I tried it a little bit. That was a popular thing back then. I don't want to give away my whole age. I don't smoke it now. I haven't had anything like that in a long time."
Duke: "What did you look like in highschool?"
Lori: "I went to a highschool in the middle of LA where so many of the girls were hot models. Just a healthy bunch of girls. I considered myself a foxy looking girl who was always blessed with good looks. Plus I was a radiant person. I've always had a personality to go with it.
"I never had an attitude about it, unlike a lot of the pretty girls I knew, who were stuck-up. We called them "socias" (short for socialites). I wasn't hanging out with the socias and I wasn't hanging out with the ugly bumbling studious girls with no personality. I was in between because I liked all people."
Duke: "At what age did you lose your virginity?"
Lori: "Unfortunately, 16. I was raped. It happened at a party. He talked me into going outside to look at something. He was a big guy. He overpowered me and ripped down my clothes... I don't even consider that having sex. It took a minute.
"For years, I couldn't remember the first time I had sex, because of that. I blocked it all out. Only when I started writing my book of my life two years ago and started delving into it did my memories start coming back about that time. It is still confusing for me. My mind doesn't want to go there. It would be a choice of several boyfriends I had when I was 17. It could've been the first one."
Duke: "Did you become sexually wild?"
Lori: "No. I'm trying to do that now. But with one person that I like. I never got into wild sex enough.
"When I moved to New York [after posing for Penthouse], we'd go discoing. We'd go partying all night at Studio 54. We'd stay out all night drinking. When you're drinking and you're high, you don't know what you're doing and you don't care what you're doing. It was a different era then. There was no AIDS. Nobody worried about protection. People were all on the pill. It was women's time to do whatever. I didn't have that many partners but I experienced some wild things.
"I sent my photos in to Penthouse in 1974 and I appeared in Penthouse in 1975. I appeared seven times in the magazine, mostly in the 1980s. My last issue was in 1991. I feel that I could've done more layouts if I hadn't been age discriminated against. My fans to this day beg to see me naked in pictures. I feel so proud that I look good and feel good.
"I'm in about ten different scenes of Caligula. You probably wouldn't recognize me because it was so long ago and I was wearing these wigs. I've had breast implants since then. I had my natural body. Nobody worked out or tanned then. I'm as white as a ghost. I don't look fit.
"I had my first breast implants, tiny, in 1991. I picked way too small. It was a wasted surgery. In 1994, I had a larger set put on. Last June, I had a brand-new set put on. It's even bigger. I was in a car accident last April that put me through the steering wheel and the windshield. It devastated me this year. It did rupture my breast. I just put in a new pair."
Duke: "Do you notice a difference in the way people relate to you with the bigger implants?"
Lori: "Yes. It's slightly odd. It's almost annoying. It's almost fun.
"What do you think about women when you see they have large breasts?"
Duke: "They're creating themselves as sexual objects. I take them a little less seriously."
Lori: "I'm dealing with that at a time when I am trying to get other things going and be taken more seriously. I am proud of myself for not being angry about the reactions and being able to handle the whole thing tongue-in-cheek. It's a pressure. I'm a writer. I'm back in the studio producing music.
"I am tired of a lifetime of no respect. Now I've added these bigger breasts which are the icing on the cake. Frankly, I think they look beautiful. I have yet to see a better pair. Part of the reason they look so big is that I am very tiny.
"We tend to think that anyone in the sex industry is a bimbo. Guess what? We're not. We're just comfortable with out sexuality and we look at as a business. We don't have hangups like the regular world. Now I'm irritated that the regular world has laid this hangup on us.
"I intend on putting on a business suit and walking into that other world."
Duke: "How many hardcore movies did you do?"
Lori: "I did three scenes. Frankenpenis -- a scene with John Bobbit, "he barely penetrated," and a scene with Pussyman [David Christopher], and I tried to do a scene with a guy I was dating. Normally he was pretty good in bed but he couldn't perform on camera."
Lori talks about the aftermath of starring in Caligula (1979): "I couldn't handle it at the time. It was bad enough that I was gorgeous and had big boobs.
"I couldn't handle the scrutiny. You're talking to a girl who's taken care of her mother for 15 years. I'm not a swinger swinger. Sure, in the '70s and '80s when people were on drugs and doing whatever they did before they went into rehab. I experimented but not abnormally. Most of my friends who are not in the industry have a better sex life than I ever had. I was always wondering if somebody was trying to use me, especially after I became a famous Penthouse Pet. Everybody wants to screw you. Sure, I liked the attention of people being sexually attracted to me but they were before I became a famous Penthouse Pet.
"Now I have to deal with everybody in the world just wants to go to bed with me and not care about me as a human. Not have feelings for me. It's hard enough to get guys to have feelings for you anyway.
"For some reason, I reverted and never went out anywhere. I'd fall in love with one fellow and just date one person for a long time. Then that would end. I'd move on to the next one. In the last 15-years, since I became a dancer, I can think of six or seven men I've gone out with. That's it.
"When I was younger, I had one-night stands and I'd experiment more. There were lots of people then, but I was always looking for love. I was never the type of person to say, hey, I just want to get it on. I never acted on that type of behavior. Maybe I should've. I got the bad rap for being a sexpot, maybe I should've gone out and enjoyed myself and had sex and felt guilty and bad about that. I was trying so hard not to be perceived that way. Therefore, I'd be shrivelling up like a prune over here, just masturbating my ass off my whole life instead of being able to share myself and enjoy love and affection with other people. So now I'm making up for it. I've finally realized that what other people think of me is none of my business."
Duke: "What's the most amount of money anyone offered you to sleep with them?"
Lori: "Many time $10,000. I never tried to get the price up or tried to bargain because I wasn't interested in it. I'm not a prostitute.
"When you become a stripper, every customer you meet wants to know how much to take you home. I'm an entertainer and I had to draw the line somewhere.
"I still work as a stripper. I'm trying to get out of it and get some other things going because of my [car] accident, my neck tightens up. I started dancing in 1989."
Duke: "So how did you make your living in 1975, when you first appeared in Penthouse, till 1989?"
Lori: "When I first appeared in Penthouse, I was a theatrical actress doing musical plays. I did one at the Whisky called 'Let My People Cum.' That show was a big hit in Greenwich Village in New York. The producer took part of the cast from the Village and part of the cast from the Whisky and put us on Broadway.
"I was young. Being in Penthouse and starring in a Broadway musical that also had nudity. Back then, people weren't doing it. I was one of the few persons taking her clothes off who also was an actress and a singer.
"Then I did a revival of Hair on Broadway. Back then, porno was an underworld thing. People could be arrested. When we made Caligula, we had to go to Europe. You couldn't make that in the United States.
"There I was -- proud and smiling -- a natural California girl starring on two Broadway stages butt-assed naked because I was just a free spirit. I felt really good about it until the media and the people... There I was, just one little person. I'm not much bigger than an ant. Just a girl whose got emotions and a heart. I can't take the whole world trying to grab at me. At the time, I didn't have a lot of protection. Sure, I had Bob Guccione and Penthouse but they couldn't go everywhere with me. I opened up this Pandora's Box. I didn't have any idea of how it was going to color the rest of my life.
"Penthouse put me on a retainer from 1977-2000. I had health insurance. I had a 401K. That's another reason why I never went and did Playboy and Hustler and Gallery and all the other magazines, which I kinda regret. I was pretty. Those were my young years. I could've been out there doing so many other things. But I liked the security of having a check every week.
"I lived at the [Penthouse] mansion for almost three years, from 1977-80."
Duke: "Why did you leave the mansion?"
Lori: "I was madly in love with Bob Guccione and I knew that I couldn't have him because he had a girlfriend. My heart was broken and I just wanted to get away. So I went home to California to try to put my life back together and I hid for a year after Caligula came out. I was very afraid. I didn't want to promote it. Penthouse offered me so many promotions. I could've been all over the world. I did go on a couple of promotions with Bob.
"When I did the love scenes in Caligula, I wanted to get famous so bad. But after I did it, I was like, ohmigod, what have I done? I didn't have Bill Margold at my side. I didn't have anybody to guide me through. Bob was a busy man. He didn't take the time with me.
"Penthouse LA had a baseball team for muscular dystrophy. For four months in the summer, we would work out and rehearse with the coaches and then we would go all over the United States and raise money for the MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) as a warm-up game before major-league and minor league games. I enjoyed that.
"I became a real estate investor and landlord. In 1986, I bought my first piece of property. That's how I made my fortune. I took my stripping money and I invested it in real estate."
Duke: "How did you come to do the FOXE Awards this year?"
Lori: "The last five years, I completely disappeared from the scene. I used to go to the CES every year and see everybody and sign autographs. I used to run around with all the XXX stars all the time.
"After I pioneered a lot of things, naked on live stages, Penthouse, Caligula, then with the Internet, nobody cared about a centerfold model anymore. People wanted hardcore sex. One day it was teasing and the next day it was another world. I grew up in the teasing world. In all the photospreads I did for Penthouse, there was no penetration. It was all pretending. Pictures from the side. I grew up in a world where you just didn't do hardcore.
"But if you didn't have [hardcore] videos, you could hardly get a booking as a feature dancer. Teri Weigel, Janine Lindemulder, crossed over [to appear in Penthouse]. It used to be a world where magazine models were one thing and XXX stars another thing. All of a sudden, it became one thing.
"It was hard for me to make that step [into hardcore]. When I finally did in John Bobbit's Frankenpenis, I knew that John Bobbit was so famous that with one video I could get the fame and the notoriety and the bookings to keep my act going. I was a feature dancer with over $100,000 worth of costumes. I wrote all my own music. I'm an entertainer.
"That one video kept me working for a couple of years. [Without doing hardcore,] I couldn't get bookings. Agents just dropped me. I couldn't get work anymore. And I wasn't ready to stop.
"My good friend Cumisha inveted me originally invited me to party all night [at FOXE] and have fun in her limo. She had a whole troop of friends going. Then I called Bill to see if I could perform, and sing, and then he decided I should say a few words about Marilyn Chambers and bring her up, since I am one of the few who actually saw The Devil In Miss Jones in the theater when it was released in the 70's. Little did know when I went to see it, that I (a somewhat normal female from the suburbs of LA) would ever get involved in the erotic industry.
"All of those older woman video releases were not with my approval or knowlege. They were I guess sold off to someone, or re packaged somehow. I was not paid for it or told about it, I would have never consented to film something with a title that infered that. I dont like the title, and with my great looks and young attitudes, have been called a timeless beauty before, and dont put labels on my self. That is how I stay vibrant and energetic, and sexy."
Duke: "How come you never went with a website where you have naked pictures of yourself?"
Lori: "I tried. I believe I was the first adult star to try to put her own website together [in 1995-96]. As soon as I heard about the technology... Because I was naive and uneducated... I'm not good with computers. I'm still not good with computers. I spent a fortune. I hired five different companies that ripped me off because they knew I didn't know what I was doing.
"I did have websites but they never made one dime.
"In 1998, when I couldn't get it together... I was in tears many times. Then I realized that maybe it was the best thing. I really don't want... I just kept trying to fit into a world that really wasn't me. I really didn't want hardcore pictures of myself. It would've been uncomfortable for me. I still have a lot of naked shots that nobody has ever seen.
"I decided about five years ago to drop out of the scene. To take all the nudity, even topless, off of my website and go back to the person I feel comfortable being... I like being totally naked. What bothered me is that I don't want to have to be. I want it to be a choice. I didn't want it to be, ok, you've been naked. You've had sex. Anything less than that is unacceptable. That is boring to me as a performer, model and artist.
"I love to dress up. Us girls have such a gamut... Thank God I can still dress up and look good. I enjoy being an entertainer, a singer and actress and all those things. I like fashion. To me, I can be more sexy with clothes on.
"I got a lot of compliments from college students when I took all the nudity off my website and just became this sexy beautiful woman. Because it makes them want to see more. Then I took the email off my website because so many people sent me worms and viruses, I couldn't keep buying computer systems. I haven't heard from anybody in years.
"I'm a songwriter. We didn't even get into that. Music is my main love. I've been writing songs for 27 years. I've spent most of my time in the last four years writing songs and recording them. I'm getting ready to emerge as a musical artist. I'm getting into the coffee houses and doing some Euro-music now. I play the guitar and do acoustic rock.
"I spent all my years in the sex industry when I could've gone all the way to the top as a singer/songwriter."
Duke: "What do you love and hate about growing older?"
Lori: "Wow! I hate knowing that I'm getting closer to the end. I hate that my butt may be sagging down to the ground. I'm trying to prevent that by doing my little bun exercises. A lot of people I knew died young. Older people have told me that as you get older, everyone around you dies. What I love about being older is that I'm blessed that I look great. There's a calmness and a relaxed knowing of things. I like knowing that I am well-off and [financially] secure. That I won't miss a meal. That gives me a freedom that I didn't have when I was younger.
"I'm glad that I can now enjoy sex as I never did before. I was always insecure so I couldn't enjoy it. Now I come from a different viewpoint.
"I have a beautiful home and a beautiful car. When you can do things that you love, it can help your spirits even more. If you love XXX, then that's the way to do it. Anything less than that, it will hurt you. I was not prepared for the onslaught of things in the timing of my life. It's different now. People don't bat an eye. I had to suffer so much flak when I was trying to get out there and be sexy. If I helped forge the way, then fine, because I think a hung-up world sexually causes anger. People should be own to do what they want to do. The nun's life is fine for some people.
"I had a self-imposed prison. Because of what I went through, it made me hard within myself. I love turning on an audience. It's nothing more than that. I'm a total human being."
Duke: "What were your impressions of Sunday night's FOXE Awards?"
Lori: "I hadn't been to the FOXE Awards before. Do they usually have it in that same place?"
For the last couple of years.
Lori: "I would've liked to have seen it more organized. It was cold. I've got a sore throat. People often don't realize that when women in the industry are performing, we don't have many clothes on. I was freezing. I admire Bill for putting on something for the fans. He's a classy guy in that he has great respect for everybody. He treats everybody with a velvet glove. He's a nice kind person."
Duke: "How has your sex celebrityhood affected your relationships with men?"
Lori: "I think it has affected it negatively. I'm still battling it. For me to enjoy being a centerfold star, which is my right, which I worked hard for, because of that, I've been disrespected and not loved for who I am."
Lori sounds like she's crying. "And that's so hard for me because I'm a real lover. I'm a real romanticist. I write a lot of songs about it. Love is what I dream about. It's very important to me and it's one thing about XXX that bothers me -- that they don't put love in the films.
"If I do some videos, which will not be XXX, they'll be educational, I'm going to be writing a book and it is going to be about putting the love and romance back into sex. Men don't seem to care about it which is why XXX is the way it is. It is mainly geared towards men. That was one reason why I had no interest in being in XXX.
"People just want to see the genitals going into something. That's fine. It's hot, sexy and wild. But we've forgotten as a society, it's not just me and my life, but when I look around at everybody... It's the difference between dating and courting. Once you've gone all the way, all that courting goes out the window. All you do is wham, bam, thank you, mam. That's why our relationships don't last. Year after year, after you've done that one thing over and over again, you don't have the rest that goes with it. I've always known that it is important to have some other things going on.
"Unfortunately, I never married. Or fortunately, as the case maybe. I'd rather not get divorced. It's not about the piece of paper. I very much want a family, even if I'm not married. I want to feel like I belong and to have that affection in my life. To know that I care about somebody else and to know that they care about me. I'm missing that.
"I like somebody right now but we don't have a commitment. We don't see each other often enough to my liking. I'm hoping that I can make that happen.
"I would never admit to myself that that was missing because all I ever did is work. But at least I can admit it now."
Duke: "The sex celebrityhood attracted the wrong type of men?"
Lori: "No. You go about your life and you meet people, but then once it's known, for some reason or another, no matter what I've tried, it's an overpowering thing. How many mothers are you going to be introduced to? How many marriage proposals would you actually get? You're just put on a different pedastal."
Duke: "How many mothers were you introduced to?"
Lori: "Not too many. Once in a while you get somebody who's open. Once somebody has known me for a long time, they probably see me as a real person, but they can't get it out of their head... Sex is an overpowering drive. Once you're labeled as Penthouse or big boobs or any of the things that are sexy, why do you think these guys marry these plain drab housewives half the time? They can't deal with a beautiful woman for some reason. I don't get it.
"There's a Madonna syndrome. I'm so fed up with it. I like to be a slut when I'm with my lover in bed. But I don't want to have to be a slut in the businessworld. I don't want to be a slut every minute of my life. That's for sex. Just because you have sex doesn't mean that's the only thing you are. It's ridiculous the way men have... Aarh! One day, probably after I'm dead, I hope that society gets their s--- together and stops hurting us women so that we can't enjoy sex. All you want from us is sex. But once you get it...
"The majority of the religious world just lays this perception that sex is a sin. I grew up with all of that and it has taken me all my life to sort through this information that I have been misgiven."
Duke: "What religion were you raised in?"
Lori: "I wasn't raised in one particular religion. I was raised exposed to all religions.
"When I grew up, nobody did anything [sexually outside of marriage]. Then you're brought into this other world where everybody lives together. I've lived through all of that.
"I do think it is better to have sex when you are in love. I like that I have been selective with my partners.
"I don't know. I don't know what other women do. Maybe I'm just talking about me. I don't know how other women get their wedding rings on their finger and play this game. All I know is that for myself, it didn't seem to work out.
"I'm going to keep doing my thing and hope that someday some man will be smart enough to recognize that he has a good thing going. And that you can be more than just one thing.
"I'm not sure that when you're famous, or was... I dropped out of the scene five years ago because I wanted everybody to forget about me. I didn't want to be Lori Wagner anymore. I didn't even call myself Lori Wagner for a couple of years. I didn't take any singing shows for years if people wanted to mention Lori Wagner or that I was a Penthouse Pet. I didn't take any jobs for a couple of years. I changed my name to Musik McCartney, Candy Able, Christy Cream. I didn't want to be Lori Wagner anymore because the heat got to be too much for me."
Lori Wagner is her real name.
Lori: "After walking away from being Lori Wagner because I was in tremendous pain, when I claimed myself back as Lori Wagner, I said to myself, I can handle it now. It is what it is. I will just have to forge ahead and hold my head up high and be the person who I am. I just can't be robbed of that anymore. But I was."
Duke: "How did your parents react when you became a Penthouse Pet and starred in Caligula?"
Lori: "My parents didn't know I was doing Caligula. I never told them. They knew about Penthouse. I asked my dad's permission before I posed. My first test shots were supposed to be for Playboy. My dad said, are you going to be hurting anybody? But I wasn't thinking about myself. I was thinking, am I going to be hurting anyone else. I said, no. He said, well, if you want to do it, then do it then. But I had no idea it was going to hurt me. At the same time, I enjoyed so many things and that's my life. I have some fond memories of so much of it."
Duke: "Has the price that you've paid for being a centerfold and nude celebrity, has that exceeded the benefits?"
Lori: "That's really hard for me to say. I made a good living. I had fans. I entertained people, even if it was naked. I had a personality and sense of humor and entertained people the best I could. I was successful. I have to get back with you on that and really decide. I can't give you a flip answer. I don't know what it would've been like if I had not done it. This is the only life I have. I'm not dead yet. I'm writing and recording. I'm interviewing to star in a new show in Reno at one of the casinos.
"The Penthouse Pet thing still seems to sell. People still want to mention it.
"I've told you a lot. I've really opened up to you and I don't know why."