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Monday, August 1, 2005

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Ambush Interview With TheAdultBroker's Lori Z

Lori Z writes on GFY:

I have seen more dead bodies that I care to remember...but the one I remember the most is seeing the dead guy washed up on the shores of Bali when I was out doing surfing lesson with long board. It was rough water... seeing that dude lay there, made me lay my surfboard down and go get a strong cocktail. yuck, he was all bloated and just, yuck!

In 1990 I was doing my graduating video (just dated myself, heh) and I chose my close friend who got diagnosed with AIDS. He was a big time partier and we had a ton of fun together, but this hit hard. I did documentary on the L-train/subway in chicago and train ride represented his life, ...peeps at the school thought I was making porn film cuz I had guys sucking each others toes in the video...I had to put a black cloth over my edit bay window cuz of the controversy. But I won first place! Remember this is back in 1990 when AIDS was taboo and gay not as widely accepted. And here comes Ms. Lori shocking the hell out of the school.

Why did I get kicked out of the sorority?... I went to spring break at South Padre Island and entered the 'tan line' contest. well, needless to say it was showing more than tan lines in order to win. I was as dark as could be but needed to show a bit more.... I won 3x, got too much exposure, the Pi Phi Sorority sisters were not happy with the attention and I didn't 'represent' the sisterhood appropriately. It was the buzz of the campus and was on a ton of videos...so I turned in my Pi Phi sweatshirt - but it was cool, too clicky for me anyway. and I had so much fun. My two other sorority sisters entered the wet t-shirt contest and it became a topless contest with whipcream - they tag teamed ( I was the one squirting them with the whipcream cans) it got so out of control, we had to be put up on 3rd floor balacony of hotel for the contest. Needless to say they got kicked out too! Now that I think about it...I guess I was content.

Keanu Reeves is straight, he was doing my neighbor and she was hot. He drove a Norton cycle up and down our road, his band sucked, they use to rehearse in the house and you could hear it across the canyon. When he moved, me and my roommate when into his house and scored stuff he left behind like his hockey stick, My Own Private Idaho movie sign and other stuff. hehe the Mansion had 8 of us in it, all walks of life. We had some wild parties. Mark Cuban was one of my roomies - he started Broadcast.com and sold it for billiions now he owns the Dallas basketball team you may have heard of him!

When I worked at cable channel back in 1996-1999, couple of guys were working on something in an office in our space...turns out it was porn...I was like very interesting...it was original owners of Paycom...they grew in our offices and took over our space when we all left cuz some peeps lined their pockets and we tanked after all that hard work. And poof, paycom is what it is today.

Playboy....I worked for a master merchandising licensor of Playboy. Used to work out of his huge house in hills of Beverly Hills...I worked poolside making deals for Playboy licensing deals such as watches, clothing, etc etc. Had nice two hour lunches on the veranda that his housekeeper cooked for us and guests, he was French so they are used to the long lunch thing. I also did a big presentation for Britney Spears at the time with this guy and they got her perfume line I believe. I called it World Britney.

WHAT DID I DO FOR XBIZ?.... I think the post would be shorter asking 'what didn't I do for XBiz' haha. I was brought on board to build up the brand, exposure, sales, presence, promotions, marketing, events, and create a publication to launch... I believe I did my job...

I broker content and media buys across all resource sites. and I partner strategic relationships for new business ventures that I cannot discuss at the moment. a few in the works People hit me up all the time looking for certain things, I put them in my network pool and I help them find their match if I can. Maybe I should start singing...."Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch...." I'm a Jew what can I say...I know the words to that song. I'm corny too, did I mention that?

Thought I would be in LA for a couple years, it's been like 12~ Time to go....heh. I'm ready to head back east, maybe NY. I hear there are a lot of cool webmasters there too But my daughter, (I'm a single mom) has a commercial agent and LA is where that stuff is at so thought we'd test it out... speaking of, she has an audition for Wells Fargo commercial in an hour.

Sean Carney's Going Away Party

The Hustler Tattler writes:

Recently Sean Carney's going-away party from LFP was held at the Continental, just a couple of blocks down the street from Hustler. Former Hustler Features Editor Mark Cromer put in a surprise appearance, and downed drinks with current LFP staffers. There were several interesting stories traded about Hustler Editorial Director Bruce David.

One LFP staffer says that Bruce claims to have "psychic healing powers" and has exercised these powers on female LFP employees, including Ann Denbock. According to another staffer, Bruce also claims to be able to practice "remote viewing" and says he can bend spoons via mind-power. Perhaps P.T. Barnum should put his special powers to work at editorial as sales of Hustler continue to sink.

Another lovely tid bit is that Bruce reportedly tries to pick up young women at LFP with childish magic tricks and his knowledge of the Rocketdyne meltodown from the 60's. Amazingly Bruce seems to think this revelation will turn on women born after 1980. So far his crush, the 20-something Kathryn Vandervort, i.e, the LFP check girl, has not fallen for his geriatric charms.

Absent from the festivities was Hustler Features Editor Carolyn S-nclair, who some present at the Continental referred to as "Condi Rice" Sinclair, in reference to her blind allegiance to Bruce. Carolyn is certainly aping Condi's wardrobe these days, deckied out in full corporate dress.

Ironically, less than a year ago, the bohemian freelancer was regularly degrading those who worked on staff at LFP as being "hooked into the Matrix" and "sold out to corporate America." Apparently, the worm has turned, literally, and for the right price she has now joined the corporate crowd; all it took was a little cash.

The evening wrapped up at the Continental with one LFP staffer describing Carolyn's disgust with Bruce's personal pill taking habits, which include gagging down pills in his office and spitting his pill water out. According to this source, Sinclair finds the daily spectacle gross and feels like "I'm in an old folk's home in Dallas."

True, porn is not pretty.

Lukeisback Layout

James writes:

The guy who commented [negatively] on your site's layout must also be attracted to shiny, silver things like crows and starlings. The layout's damn near my favorite I've ever seen. I like black and white text, there's a reason any serious document or paper is on 8.5x11 sheet with black ink. It's readable, more readable than squinting to make out black lettering on a violet background or trying to read gaudy, formatted-text. the concept that "good" web-design is showing how much s--- you can cram onto a page is one of my pet-peeves, I'll leave sites for it (never use flash Luke, just don't). If you need to entertain people with the way a page looks, the content probably is about as interesting as crib-death.

Why Do Porn Stars Escort?

Kris Slater writes on ADT:

A man or woman will pay alot more to a person they have seen in the movies. Money is of course the main selling point to get into escorting and it is not always that you make more money than stripping but it is alot easier on your body. You have to understand that when a girl is at the club dancing, she is in high shoes and dancing all night and has to deal with several guys and come home with several bumps that are not flattering on film when they have a scene the next day, Now with the escort, they are usually wined a dined and shown a good time and they are not dancing all night and they only have to deal with one guy instead of several. Now I know you are not always taken out by the guy but even if you are not, you still make money in a faster and less tiring way.

Porn star Kimi Lix writes:

Escorting is pretty nifty. Even if you don't have a very high "porn star" rate, you can generally book a couple of guys a day. It allows for a fairly flexible schedule, so if there is something else you need or want to do, it's a great job for that reason alone. It's not as physically demanding as performing in adult films, it's not as time consuming as dancing. It can be much more lucrative than either. You get to meet all sorts of people. If you want to make friends, you can. If you don't want to make friends, you don't have to. I think many porn performers go into escorting because they realise that they're okay with it after having sex in front of cameras with strangers. I think they get sick of hearing from directors that they want more nastier, outrageous performances for less and less money, while hearing from their fans that they would give anything just to have the opportunity to give them a backrub. I think the attention and affirmation are addictive. I think there are probably a dozen other reasons that I haven't thought of yet, too.

Devinn Lane writes:

I've never escorted myself but have talked to a few girls that have and they feel like they have more of a say so when escorting. They get to choose their clients and often the freelance girl doesn't even know who she is working with until she gets to set. So for a girl that isn't under contract and has less power of who she has sex with, it seems the obvious choice for many. I support any sex worker that takes control of her future regarless if she's an escort or porn performer.

Pete Zaface writes:

The going rate for an hour with some of the most well-reviewed escorts in Dallas averages between $250 and $300. Making a couple of movies generaly doesn't increase an escort's market value significantly -- Caset Carlin and Shannon O'Day in Dallas come to mind. But get a couple of boxcovers under your belt, get a recognizable name as a "porn star," and you can easily get $1,500 an hour.

Pason aka Michael Stefano writes:

I think of my grandmother who was an escort and she had gone out of town to see one of her "regulars", they got into a fist fight after drinking (which is not smart to drink or do drugs on any job.) Well, the guy left and when he was calmed down he came back to find that she had bleed to death. He called a buddy, they got her body, took it to the local bowling alley and dumped her body in the trunk of some guys car. The guy came out to his car to find this dead lady who had no ID on her and she was a Jane Doe for almost 2 months before her family could find her.

How much do porn stars make for Meatholes.com and Midnight Prowl?

Director Quasarman writes on ADT:

I'd be shocked if it was more than $500 bucks. They may come in asking for $1500 but Khan Tusion will convince them that they are worthless human beings who deserve to be pissed on. They may even end up paying him.

Skronker posts:

Out of maybe 15 sites, only Meatholes (and Pissmops, I suppose, depending on your tastes) are what I would call degrading from the get-go. Midnight Prowl, it's hard to say. Old codgers on disability benefits and stalwart gauchos from the migrant day labor pool getting BJs from hungover strippers -- maybe that is the very handiwork of a benevolent and loving God. Or maybe not. Most of it is unwatchable and unstrokable.

Ryan Knox writes:

Midnight Prowl is hilarious. They take a hot chick, drive her to Mondo Video in Hollywood and make her blow a few random guys. Of course, the guys don't really get to enjoy it much because Kahn Tusion and Frank Benjamin are talking to the guys most of the time, but man is it funny!

Girls in Porn seem to seek out Meatholes more so to prove something to themselves. They are told time and time again that they shouldn't do it and they'll probablly end up crying and regret it and then 9 times out of 10 after they've been so horribly degraded they think as though they've done some soul searching. Most of the girls get over it and move on with there fabulous careers or glamourous whorish lifestyles filled with chugging cock, snorting coke and clubbing. Meatholes is very harsh, but man is it funny!

Gia Jordan writes: "My parents taught me that it's ill mannered to ask people how much money they make. Besides, talking about money is, like, so eighties."

Porn For Money

Director David Aaron Clark writes on ADT: "I think I've met an actress who wasn't in it primarily for the money maybe two or three times in 17 years in the adult business -- & they were on the fringes, & didn't last long."

Is Life In Porn Valley Surreal?

Tom Leykis Fan posts to ADT:

Can some of you industry 'insiders' please share some comments on what life is like in the San Fernando Valley (northwest of Los Angeles)? Most of us aren't living there so all we have is our imaginations and all the porn we can watch! Yeah!

I mean with the adult film industry in the billions of dollars anually: isn't it well known by the regular residents of the San Fernando Valley that there is the highest capacity per capita of pornstars, producers, directors, and studios anywhere in the world?

Like when you go to the Carl's Junior in Canoga Park or Chatsworth and there is a smokin' hot latina working the drive thru, don't people think: she should do porn? Do the regular folks down there talk about the porn industry in regular conversation like the local mill or the local navy base, etc?

Does the city government embrace the industry...I mean we all live in areas where they pass ordinances on how far away strippers have to be from customers.

I know the area is pretty vast and wide geographically but with the big gun studios like PXP, RLD, Anabolic/ Diabolic, Vivid, Wicked, Evil Angel, Elegant Angel, Zero Tolerance, Hustler, JKP, New Sensations, Sin City, etc, etc, and their warehouses isn't it a little surreal to be surrounded by so much smut?

Quasarman writes:

"The valley, originally an agricultural area, occupies 260 square miles (670 square km) and is the location of several Los Angeles suburban residential communities including…"

Most porn companies don't have their names emblazoned on the outside of the building so most look like just any other industrial structure.

I think most Valley residents are blissfully unaware of how much porn production takes place in their neighborhoods. Porn Valley is pretty good about respecting the rights of those who probably wouldn't appeciate a quintuple anal albino gangbang taking place next door. Aside from a few extra cars and the occasional glimpse of a girl with big jugs walking to the front door with a suitcase, you wouldn't suspect that anything unusual was going on.

Still, sometimes when residents discover you're shooting porn in their zip code, they go completely insane, call the police, put up flyers etc.. yet somehow they don't mind having entire streets shut down and blinding lights shining at 11pm when a Hollywood movie is being shot in their neighborhood.

Also, the city issues film permits just like it would for a Steven Speilberg movie as long as you pay the fee.

Life out here is not even close to Heaven unless you enjoy mile after endless mile of strip malls and 7-11's.

Vertigo Vic writes:

Besides the usual lines out the door of girls ready to give head, everyone forgetting which Ferrari is their's and wild sex parties every night, its pretty normal.

There's enough of the entertainment industry in LA (music, movies, etc) that porn goes by pretty unnoticed. The valley also holds about two million people, so unless you were looking for it, you'd never notice the porn. Although I used to see Eric Everhard, Nick Manning and Dan Miller at the gym, and Keri Sable at Starbucks, I don't think anyone else in either place noticed. In LA most people are too consumed with themselves anyway.

JABnLA writes:

I use to manage a luxury apartment complex in Sherman Oaks in the late '90s. It was there that I first met several of the performers that I know (most are retired or semi-retired now). As they were wont to keep an understandably low-profile, most of the other residents didn't even know. It is pretty much an easy place to be anonymous, as any large city would be.

I happen to find parts of the Valley very beautiful. The many overlooks with views of the Valley on Mulholland ...the hills south of Ventura Bl. in the West Valley...Beverly Glen and the other Canyon passes...Calabasas and the portions of Topanga Canyon that are in the Valley...the rocky cliffs and horse country in Chatsworth where alot of the old westerns were filmed...Hansen Dam is very pretty - especially at night!

GNSM100 writes:

I have lived in the Valley for most of my 41 years. Specifically, Woodland Hills. South of Ventura, West of Topanga, yada yada yada.

With the exception of a few big porn names showing up on some Sunday afternoons during the summer months at the Sagebrush Cantina, you don't run into anyone special here.

The Valley is a place primarily occupied by single family, detached homes, multi-unit apartment buildings, an infinite number of strip malls, and tons of retail stores of all kinds. It's the original suburbia. Think "Brady Bunch" type houses.

These days, English is the 3rd most common language, after Spanish and Arabic/Armenian/Hebrew/Farsi (those sound all the same to me so I'll lump them together).

Canoga Park & Chatsworth are probably the most industrial-looking places in the West Valley, having an almost infinite amount of "tilt-up" 1 and 2 story buildings that are 20% office and 80% warehouse. Porn companies use these types of facilities.

Driving by, one would not be able to tell. If you broke into one, you'd see 2,500 square feet of cheap office space and 10,000 square feet of warehouse. There, you'd see a crew of immigrant workers packing VHS tapes & DVDs into large shipping boxes. It might as well be books, screwdrivers or anything else. The novelty of what's being packed and shipped wears off by the first lunch break of the first day.

There's not much of a nightlife going on here with the exception of a few trendy restaurants along Ventura here and there, but it's nothing like Sunset. In fact, the Valley's area code (818) is kind of a lousy one to have when exchanging digits with women from "over the hill" (Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc.) Man...I wish I had Vonage back in the day...but I digress....

Swinger parties are decent here, but, I suspect they are no different than anywhere else in a big city. The porn industry has never had any real impact on parties. I have seen a few porn names at some, but generally speaking, their presence does not make the party any better. Porn people tend to be non-participants. Another coincidence is that many of the houses / locations that are used for swing parties are also used in porn shoots. It's pretty funny to be watching a porn and seeing a table I've sat at and ate food from, being used as a "bed" DP. Next time I'm there, I'll make sure I don't eat anything that falls off my plate!

DVD4me writes: "Lived in CHATSWORTH for 19 years, and only saw one porn star on the streets ever."

Sole Brother writes:

I live in Studio City, which is one of the cooler parts of the Valley, IMO. People from the other side of the hill don't roll their eyes as much when you say Studio City. I used to live in Canoga Park, and Woodland Hills before that.

Since I've been in Studio City, I've had more than a few celeb sightings...both porn and mainstream Hollywood. Just last week I went to a popular Mexican restaurant and sat next to a table with a bunch of gorgeous black actresses (Gabrielle Union, Essence Atkins, Regina Hall, and a few others). Nice. And on the porn side, I once struck up a conversation with Trevor and Lezley Zen at a different trendy Mexican spot. I didn't know they did porn until they told me.

Other random porn sightings have been Shay Sights at my nearest Starbucks, Mr. Marcus numerous times, Pandora Dreams at a local video store (in the adult section), and a good friend of mine tried unsuccessfully to pick up Charlene Aspen at a Fatburger.

Here's the other thing I'll say about why the S.F. Valley is great for all things porn. Number one, you have so many strip clubs in the 818 that it's crazy! Spearmint Rhino, Deja Vu, and so many others that I can't name them all. Many of the porn girls do feature dancing, and you'll find them on any random weekend at one of these spots. Sometimes you'll even see porn girls who just work there, and are not advertised as the feature dancer.

The other great thing that I will definitely miss is that, for my money, the Valley has the best video stores to rent porn of anywhere I've seen. It makes sense, because their major suppliers are all right here. And since I'm going to be leaving anyway, I might as well tell those of you who are interested where the best porno rental places are in the Valley. These places have been my porno lifelines for all my years here. Enjoy:

-Red Hot Video on Ventura in Studio City. Really good for compilation dvds, if that's your thing.

-20/20 Video on Sepulveda in Van Nuys. I love this place. Really great for ethnic titles (black and latin). This is where I met Pandora Dreams.

-Excitement Video on Ventura in Tarzana. Hit and miss, but mostly pretty good. And the number one place of all is:

-Video 10 on Saticoy Ave. in Canoga Park. I swore I would never tell anyone about this place, because I wanted it all to myself. But hell, I'm moving and getting married, so why not? On the outside, it looks like any mom & pop video store. But lemme tell you...it has the largest selection of porn I've ever seen. They get 98% of all the new releases, and they stock multiple titles of each of them. Plus the rentals are so cheap! I think it's like $2.25 per rental or something like that. If you go there, trust me, you'll thank me.

Christian writes: "If you frequent the Powerhouse gym at Nordorf and Desoto in Chatsworth, you can always see pornstars or directors going in and out because of the cafe and tanning salon."

Porn star Kinzie Kener writes:

i grew up in the SFV and really didnt have a clue about how much porn was being shot around the block, i once saw a porn film being shot by my moms old office when i was like 11 years old or something, i didnt really know what it was since my mom worked in a coorportate area, when i started doing porn i was pretty shocked because like 90% of these buildings that i grew up around and never new what they were i was now going in to pretty much daily to shoot porn. the benefit of being in porn valley is that everything is local and pretty easy to find, i finally moved out of california all together but still go back each month, it was eye opening to grow up where i did, i think i got to see more and experience certian things that some people dont get to other places, in my life i probably moved to 15 different areas in the SFV or close...good times!

Nina Hartley Update

Her husband Ernest Greene writes on nina.com:

I'm with Nina in opposing the .XXX domain, which I see as a cattle-car to extermination for the adult Internet. Those within the industry who support this are being very short-sighted and ought to have a closer look at the origins of the idea.

As for Senator Lincoln et al, I hope she and her friends find out for themselves just how clever and shrewd it is for them to attempt to out-porn-bait the GOP. That territory is spoken for and they'll be laughed right out of it, meanwhile losing any shred of support they might still enjoy from personal libertarians like myself.

BTW, the deposition went extremely well. The FSC counselors were so impressed by Nina's testimony, they may be calling her as a witness in future proceedings.

Much as I'd love for Nina to have her say in front of Congress, not to mention the looks on all their faces while she did, I can't imagine such a thing happening. Neither party would call her as a witness for fear of siding with The Pornographers and The Pimps. She wouldn't testify as a witness for those bent on annhilating porn and wouldn't be asked by those who so half-heartedly oppose such a thing.

Ernest writes May 23:

I know I've threatened this before, but this time I have no choice but to make good. I really do have to drastically reduce my participation here for some time.

This is the problem. Nina and I have a big book due in about 90 days. We both still have other work committments, including video shoots and magazine responsibilities that just won't wait. Meantime, as things around here have heated up, this board has required more and more active moderation from me.

I've been taking down threads, deleting posts and restricting memberships right and left for months. Last night, I sat down and calculated the hours I've put into this process over the past few months and the numbers are frightening. I've spent more time working here than on jobs for which I actually get paid! Something clearly has to give, and this, alas, must be it. I love a good soap-box derby, but I gotta sit this one out for a bit.

Netpond & Ynot Union?

Confucy writes on JBM:

I don't care what the boardtracker stuff says...Netpond is God Awful boring. Meat and Aga and their moderators rule the board with heavy hands. B O R I N G !!

Now, YNOT Bob is joining Netpond to do their advertising. YNOT, compared to the other boards, has always been on the conservative side, and it is quite clear that LAJ has a major problem if you disagree with him. LAJ reminds me of SEGuru before he got married to Muffy or Buffy or whatever her name is. Every picture I saw of Guru showed him smoking grass, slobbering over women, and grabbing his crotch. Now, LAJ has decided it is cute to be photographed doing the same. However, YNOT Bob is a class act compared to his buddy, LAJ. Adding YNOT Bob to the payroll will not help Netpond.

Both boards need to add some spark to their sites. The format is dull and boring, just like Oprano's new design. Boring seems to be the descriptive word of the day. GFY and JBM are much more original and open than Netpond & YNOT. What a waste of a few good minds, like Connor of YNOT. Good luck, boys. It will take more than YNOT Bob to inject some energy into stodgy old boards.

Mary Carey, Kendra Jade Visit Howard Stern Show

From Marksfriggin.com:

Former porn stars Mary Carey and Kendra Jade came in to say hello this morning. Howard said that Mary lost some weight and he was glad to see that because she was getting kind of fat. He told her that she needs to lose another 20 and she'd be awesome. Kendra thought she was looking really good though. Kendra said that if Mary lost that much weight, she'd look as skinny as Nicole Richie. That's what Howard was going for of course. He asked Mary how much she weighs but she didn't want to talk about that. Howard said that Kendra is looking good today as well. She's no longer doing porno and neither is Mary. Mary told Howard that she shot about 40 porn movies but people think she's done 89 because they take her picture and put it on the box even if she wasn't in the movie.

Howard read that Mary has had to cut down on her drinking because she was blacking out. Mary told Howard that she had to switch to vodka because the white wine she was drinking had too much sugar in it. She also said that she was depressed because her grandmother passed away. She was on the show one time and Mary wanted to bring her ashes in to say hello to them. Howard told her that would be a bad idea. Mary has been sleeping with NBA players and Howard thought she wanted to make a movie with them. She said she's just a big fan of basketball and loves making love to them. She said she's had sex with players from the Lakers, Timberwolves, Miami Heat and a bunch of other teams.

Mary Carey on the couch. Mary and Kendra. Mary and Kendra.

Vivid Video DVD Transfers

Paul writes me:

I notice that on many of the transfers Vivid cuts some of the sex scenes by as much as half. I also notice that Vivid will substitute crappy rock/jazz porn music for the music on the original soundtrack that all but ruins the scene. Why does Vivid ruin the DVDs by making these changes? Is the reason because Vivid does not have the original soundtrack or that a high quality transfer is more expensive so they just use crap porn music? I also notice many very good Vivid titles such as Where the Boys Aren't 5 and Bedside Brat (also other in the series) are not available. Is the reason because Vivid somehow lost the master tapes? I'm so disappointed in the DVDs by vivid video that I do not purchase then any more.

Fine Yiddishe Maidele Joanna Angel Falls Off The Derech (Path)

I call around Friday afternoon looking for stories.

One Jewish friend had just returned from a dangerous liason with a porn model at a Disneyland hotel. "I can't even look at my dick," he says, "it hurts so much. This was the best sex of my life."

Then I called the brothers, starting with Cuntree. He had no scoop.

I call Tone Capone. "I'm just looking for stories."

Tone: "Is that the only reason you call me, to get a story? You never call me to see how I'm doing."

Tone turns to his girlfriend Tasty (who works phone sex overnight): "This nigger's calling me to get some story to put on the internet."

"I want to speak to Tasty."

Tone: "She says doesn't want to talk to you. That you don't call her house."

"Why doesn't she want to talk to me?"

Tone: "She has her own personal reasons."

I give up with the blacks and call former Orthodox Jew Joanna Angel. Last time I spoke to her, last week, she sounded upset.

"Shabbat shalom!" I say. "Gut Shabbos!"

Joanna: "Who's this?"

"Duke Floored."

"I was like, who else knows? I'm making the credits to Joanna's Angels (VCA) and I'm putting a special thank you to you."

"I helped inspire your art."

"I don't know if you did that, but you were owed a thank you."

Duke: "You sound a lot happier this week than last week."

Joanna: "No, I'm not at all, but I'm really happy to hear your voice."

She giggles.

Duke: "You just wanted to hear my 'Gut Shabbos' wish over the phone."

Joanna: "That's all I really needed. Working on Friday night is cursing me."

Duke: "Are you about to light candles?"

Joanna: "Yes. My mother's coming over.

"Did you call me to ask me any embarrassing questions?"

Duke: "I just thought I'd wish you a Shabbat Shalom."

Joanna: "I grew up really religious."

Duke: "I don't think I've ever met anyone else who was Orthodox and then became a porn star."

[In 1996, I met Alexandra Silk who grew up Orthodox.]

Joanna: "You've probably met nobody else like me."

Duke: "That's true. Did you go to a yeshiva?"

Joanna: "I did until I [went to a public highschool]."

Duke: "Do you ever go back and visit your rebbes?"

Joanna: "I used to visit them all the time. I used to go to Israel every summer. A lot of my relatives won't talk to me anymore."

Duke: "Prior to them finding out..."

Joanna: "Yeah, that I do what I do."

Duke: "Was that tough for you?"

Joanna: "It wasn't that tough. I thought my uncle was a jerk, this rabbi guy. All the relatives I was close to still talk to me. The ones I didn't like stopped talking to me. It was a good filter. The whole family is divided [between] who loves Joanna and who hates Joanna. I just have that effect on people."

Duke: "You're a nice Jewish girl."

Joanna: "I am a nice Jewish girl. I had to wear skirts and everything. Sometimes I would get in trouble because I would wear ones that were too short."

Duke: "Were you a bad kid?"

Joanna: "Yeah. Well, I don't think wearing a skirt that goes two inches above your knee is that bad.

"I live in a religious neighborhood, Brooklyn. My mom thinks I moved here to be near religious people."

Duke: "Do you hold by the eruv?"

Joanna makes me repeat the question three times. "No, I don't. I carry stuff inside of it all the time. Well, no, I guess you can carry stuff inside the eruv. I don't even know where it is. I used to know where it was when I was younger. I was very careful. We lived inside of one. We paid a lot of money to do that.

"You didn't think I knew what that [eruv] meant, did you?"

Duke: "No. I was testing you."

Joanna: "You can't carry stuff outside the eruv on [the Sabbath and Jewish holidays]. I fast on Yom Kippur. I don't eat any chametz on Passover."

Duke: "Do you keep kosher?"

Joanna: "I don't. Don't tell my family that. They'd be so upset."

Duke: "Are your family big readers of lukeisback?"

Joanna: "My dad has a Google News Alert on me. He reads everything."

He's an insurance broker.

Joanna: "He saw the interview [I did with her]. He thought it was funny. Isn't that cool? You can come to our sukkah some time.

"I have to leave in a couple of minutes. I have to leave to go take photos of a girl, but you can ask me a couple more questions.

"When my dad decided he was going to be ok with what I do, he was ok with what I do. He looks into it. He follows up on it. When he calls me and I say I'm not doing anything, he says, I know you're in LA. I read it on AVN.com. I know exactly what you're doing."

Duke: "Are you a Zionist?"

Joanna: "No, I'm not. My mom is. My dad is not. It actually causes a lot of fights in my house."

Duke: "Do you feel it was sacrilegious for secular Jews to create the modern state of Israel without G-d's explicit approval?"

Joanna: "No. I'm not an anti-Zionist. Israeli politics is hard to talk about, but the Palestinians did live there for some amount of time and deserve to have something. A lot of the problems going on there is that everybody is a victim of a government that they don't want."

Duke: "Do you think women should count in a minyan?"

Joanna: "Any time I do anything religious it is to make my mom happy. Because I grew up Orthodox, when I do do anything religious, it is in an Orthodox synagogue. Any time I go to anything Conservative or Reform for a bar mitzvah or whatever, I feel awkward. I think if you're going to be religious, you need to be religious and do it the way you are supposed to do it. So I don't think women should count in a minyan. I know that goes against other things I believe in, but I don't think being religious is a left-wing thing. It's not good to be religious if you want to exercise your right to be a radical."

Joanna says she's a feminist.

Duke: "Are you a third wave feminist?"

Joanna: "I'm a 20th wave feminist. I can't think of any feminist I would follow all their rules, but I'm definitely adament about my feminism.

"I have to go take pictures of a girl."

Duke: "Are you going to reveal her shame?"

Joanna: "I am. And I'm making a sandwich for me to eat on the way to the shameful act."

Duke: "You should have a gut shabbos."

Joanna: "Are you going to put this on your website?"

Duke: "If that's ok with you."

Joanna: "I would love that."

Chaim Amalek writes:

Christ, I'm trying to find a pic of her. Midget. Why don't you ask her how she feels about AMALEK? If she's cool with AMALEK, you should set us up on a reality date. Direct her to my profile, and see what she says. Is she nuts? Ask her why she persists in using her vagina as a plaything, when Palestinian women are using theirs as cannon. Also - and it pains me that you failed to ask these questions - how does she feel about sex with uncut men?

Also: if you are so smart, why are you making porn? Why aren't you in med school or working at Goldman Sachs? How do you feel about Black/Jewish relations? Williamsburgh hipsters: can they make common cause with the Satmar?

Is there anything wrong with Hollywood that Islam cannot cure? Are there too many Jews in Hollywood, too few, or just the right amount? Speaking as a genius yourself, have you come to any conclusions regarding "The Bell Curve"?

Much to my chagrin, I find that even really short women in NY won't date shorter men. What's your cut off?

Which Jewish rituals does she still hold by? Most importantly, if she is to date me, how often does she go to the mikvah? You need to email her these questions asap before the shabbos queen shows up.

Coke, Cross-Dressing And The Crumbling Of A Marriage

I've changed the names in the following.

A wife (a former model) calls me. She found out from my website that her husband has a girlfriend. He is not seeking a reconciliation but a divorce. She's ticked off.

Jane: "Frank is a cross-dresser. Every time he would do coke, he would dress up as a chick. It got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. He kicked me out on a coke binge. Every time he was coming down, he would call me to come over and he would be dressed up as a bitch. I've gone to cross-dressing stores. I've bought lingerie for him. I've got one of his fake boobs sitting in my trunk.

"One time somebody posted something about me on the internet that was not true. That I was a coke whore. Frank didn't do anything to protect me. And he's my husband. So I posted: My husband is a cross-dresser. 'I left him because he has a fascination with transsexuals. He likes to wear my panties. He still has my brown dress. He's ripped so many of my clothes trying to fit into them.'

"I didn't know he was a cross-dresser when I married him. I found out five years into the marriage when he was on coke. I was trying to be cool, loving, understanding wife. 'I love you for who you are. Do what you need to do.'

"Part of the reason I was pissed was that he would never acknowledge any of my sexual needs. I got really annoyed that he wouldn't stop cross-dressing. Dude, stop already!

"We've been separated for months. I've moved into my own place. But we're still 'trying to work things out.' I filed for divorce against him. He convinced me to drop the lawsuit to work things out.

"I quit coke. I would come home from AA and he'd be high. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and got my own place. He would always call me when he was coming down and he wanted me to come over. Every time I came over, he'd be dressed as a chick.

"We were partying with a bunch of friends. Frank and I developed a bad coke habit. But I wanted to quit. We had some models over. He left his trunk of cross-dressing ---- out. My only rule was do not share this. Whatever goes in our bedroom stays in our bedroom. This is my private sex life too and I don't feel comfortable with you sharing anything let alone how good of a blowjob I gave you last night.

"This model found his trunk. The next thing I know they're running around f----- up holding one of my husband's fake boobs while I'm trying to party. Of course I get all upset. He's like, why should I be ashamed?

"We continued to party. No many times I'd ask him to not do it, the conversation would always turn there. He says he doesn't party anymore and do that anymore.

"Most of the cocaine was his idea. I was just trying to keep up with him. The cocaine numbed my feelings that my husband kept dressing up as a woman and stared at transsexuals on the internet. It made it so I didn't care. When I sobered up, I'd be disgusted."

Luke: "How much do you think being around the industry contributed to this?"

Jane: "I think the industry desensitized everything. When I come home from a shoot, I'm like, don't touch me. I've seen too much of this. Especially when I go to work (and I'm not having sex because I'm working things out with my husband), I'm not inspired. Everything looks like a bunch of lumps. They look like dogs to me. Like dogs humping.

"I know tons of male ---- stars. They all have whacked out fantasies. OK, because you overly expose yourself to naked women, it's no longer sexy to you.

"Once I settle down, I am going mainstream.

"Nine years ago, I was offered a contract by Vivid. I said no. I was getting married. I got out of doing the nude [modeling] because Frank wasn't comfortable with it. I took random secretary jobs. Then Frank started working with people who wanted to get talent to do websites. I quit five jobs to help Frank on various projects. We ended up losing money. My credit's ruined by I bankrolled some of this. His credit was already ruined from the last show business attempt.

"Photography has always been my hobby. It's been a natural progression to go professional. I saw the way [drunk] treated the models. These girls would go home crying. My husband told me to take it for the sake of paying rent. [Drunk] would get drunk, hand the camera off to me, and tell me I was not a photographer so I wasn't going to get paid. My husband would force me to come back and work for the sake of our marriage. Or, 'I'll be home really late. You won't see me tonight.'

"I got forced to learn photography from a drunk asshole. I taught myself most everything.

"I treated the models well. I didn't dress them up like little girls. I wanted them to look glamorous and fabulous. I wanted to start a content company to put [drunk] out of business.

"Everything was perfect in our marriage for six months after my husband made me a business partner. Then the cocaine came along. We partied with Chris and Seka. They're crazy party animals. We'd go on double dates. Cocaine came into the picture and Frank turned into his asshole self. He became this person I didn't even know. It was so bad it made me quit.

"Chris is a jerk. He cheats on his wife all the time, which is why I quit being friends with him.

"I'm going to the bathroom in our house and there's a condom in the garbage. 'Oh, there was a dildo show here.' Another day, I found a condom on the floor. 'Oh, that's when Chris and Don had a hooker over.'

"You're inviting married men to come into my home and cheat on my friends with a hooker? That shows how much respect you have for marriage.

"I am so against drugs. I'm a pot smoker and an athlete. I've watched it destroy my husband and ruin our marriage."

Houston Update

A friend says: "Speaking of chicks who suck dick on camera, do you know who called me the other day?

"Houston is doing well. She's selling real estate in Las Vegas."

Duke: "She's a hooker."

Friend: "No. Just because it's on a website doesn't mean it's true. She's cocktail waitressing part-time. She's got a boyfriend. She's got a 13-year old daughter. She'd tell me if she was hooking. Well, maybe she wouldn't."

Duke: "I thought she had her real estate license for a while."

Friend: "No. She couldn't pass the test."

Eulogy

This is a hilarious dark comedy presented from the perspective of the granddaughter Kate Collins (played by Zooey Deschanel, who graduated from Cross Roads High School in Santa Monica).

"My dad's [Daniel Collins played by Hank Azaria] sought of a famous actor. You might remember him as the Spiffy Peanut Butter kid. It must be weird to have your career peak at eight.

"Now he works mostly in obscure porn films."

Cut to her dad giving towels to a couple in a sports club.

Porn director tells dad: "Keep looking at them. That's it. Oh yeah. Get turned on. She's removing her clothes."

The couple are at the crafts service table while dad tries to look turned on.

Director: "He's massaging her breasts. Let me see that in your eyes. You're surprised. Down go her pants. Maybe you're going to get caught. They're not supposed to be doing that. Look sexy. Smoky eyes. I want to see envy. You want to be that guy. That's it. Touch yourself."

Meanwhile the dad's answering his cell phone and finding out his father died.

Halfway through the film, Kate catches her dad smoking a joint. They have a heart-to-heart about Kate's mom.

Daniel: "Your mom knew. She always said, 'We have to get out of acting, Daniel.'"

Kate: "Mom was an actress? You told me mom was a social worker who died of caring too much.

"So mom was an actress. Is there anything I can see her in?"

Daniel: "No. Well..."

Kate: "What kind of movies did mom make, dad?"

Daniel: "Honestly, it wasn't that bad. She never used her real name."

Kate goes to the video store and asks a grungy clerk: "Do you have any Cookie Tushela movies?"

Clark comes back with Vagina Town. "This one's possibly her best for its utter lack of story," says the clerk.

Kate brings it home and puts it in the VCR. "All of my life, I've wished I could see my mother.

"Most people don't even want to see their parents having sex with each other, let alone multiple bad actors."

Some quotes from the movie:

Lucy Collins: You wouldn't know a sex toy if it left a battery in your vagina.
Alice Collins: My vagina, as you are so whimsically about to refer to it, has served as sacred passage, for three anatomically correct children, so...
Fred Collins: Bad image.
Ted Collins: [hits head twice] Erase, erase.

Steve Banan, Ron Jeremy In The Forward?

Steve calls. "I reported her [Layla Jade] immediately to Seymour [the owner of Sardo's Bar]. She had to be on something more than liquor that night. They ended up putting her in a cab with her young boyfriend [Dustin Kilimin] and getting rid of her."

Layla Jade responds: "Oh well."

Ric Williams, owner of Black Widow Productions, writes:

I have been reading this Steve – Layla crap…Jesus, is he on a vendetta or what? Layla was my guest for the evening, and spent most of her time at my table or with me. She was wasted on alcohol only…my fault as I kept putting drinks in front of her. Did she bump into Steve…probably, so what…they have a feud going back for some time. Steve uses the power of the pen to piss her off. They both probably need to grow up, but then Layla is only 24…how old is Steve?? I was with Layla and her boyfriend and I asked Seymour to call a cab for them. Seymour absolutely was not upset with Layla or her boyfriend. Come on Steve, quit spreading gossip and bulls---!

Steve writes:

I do not have a vendetta against Layla Jade, What I had to print in the press was printed almost two years ago. Since then I have not mentioned a word about her. She has gone out of her way like a child in heat to upset my life the two times we were at the same place.

Layla went out of her way to directly run into me and elbow me in my back and as she ran away, she smiled with great satisfaction. My wife Nicole Moore was hurt as well. If she did that to you Ric and Lisa was hurt, I think you would have a different slant on it.I have nothing to do with Layla Jade, neither do I want to. She was wrong almost two years ago by her actions and she was wrong the other night at Sardo’s…period.

I spoke to Sardo’s security the next morning and they were aware of her position, which was most of the time in a lying one. If she can’t hold her liquor, she should not drink, because that screws it up for everyone who can and are out to have a nice evening. If you were feeding her drinks, you should had enough sense to know when she had enough.

Ric, it was admirable of you to arrange for a cab for her, I would hate to be the other person or persons family that she hit head on, if she was driving...then how would you feel.

Steve: "I did an interview yesterday with a guy who says he knows you -- Daniel Honigman."

Luke: "Never heard of him."

Steve: "From the Forward, what we used to call the Forvitz [the Forward used to be a Yiddish newspaper that sold more copies each day than The New York Times]. They wanted to do something about the [possible] ABC thing [Ron Jeremy reality show] and Ron's Judaism, his Bar Mitvah, etc. A Yiddish newspaper that my father and mother read was calling me... They [the writers at the Forward] were sitting around the office and went to the AVN.com website and read the press release that I put out. What's a Yiddish newspaper doing on an adult site? Then we started talking about you."

Luke: "I don't know this guy."

Steve: "He knows you. He said you did something with the Forward.

"I just thought it was hilarious that they were sitting in the office reading AVN."

What has Jewish journalism come to?

A Net Porner tells me: "Do you really think Ron Jeremy is going to get a reality show on ABC? ABC is owned by Disney. There ain't no way in hell that ABC will do a show with Ronnie. What's funny is that the Adult people buy that Ronnie is going to have a show on ABC. Everybody is a bunch of sheep."

Gram Ponante And Heidi Pike Johnson Sitting In The Tree Kissing

I email Gram (he worked with Heidi at AVN, but their's was a tragic love because Heidi was married and so was Gram, they had to go home to someone else, not their true love, but most of all their love was bounded by AVN's strict non-fraternization policies): "What was the exact nature of your relationship with young Heidi? Can you honestly say that it was entirely platonic?"

He replies: "Heidi and I are dear friends from Pawtucket. We are both amateur campanologists. You establishment types have forever been against us. You have always been threatened by our love because G-d has turned His face from you. Why do you torment me on your slow news day when men like Steve Banan are being attacked?"

Gram later adds this correction: "I was not married at the time I was at AVN, which makes it that much more tragic."

I email Bad Ass Frank (pictures of him and Miss Oaks are seared in my memory from Tuesday's night's PSK): "What is the exact nature of your relationship with young Tricia? Can you honestly say that it is entirely platonic?"

Frank replies: "We've been dating seriously for a few months."

Playboy TV's Standards

David Aaron Clark writes on ADT:

I will hip you (& the rest) to Playboy standards, which can be pretty draconian & nonsensical not so much regarding the softcore sex but themes, props & locations -- I'm not allowed to portray drug use of any kind (though a little -- hic -- drinkie-poo is fine, lol) & I am right now dealing with Playboy demanding to one of the companies I shoot for that in my last feature, largely shot in Vegas, every friggin' outdoor shot with a casino somewhere in the background has to either be cut out or have a location release from that casino ...

I have also had most of my (AVN-award-winning, blah blah blah) ASIA NOIR series rejected there because a lawyer turned film critic decided that the "general tone" was too dark; I had to cut a special compilation version that took out any bite whatsoever for VT to make their cable sale. In SHADOW OF A GEISHA, besides the aforementioned non-sex cuts, I also had to trim the emotional core of the movie, when (in a very artsy, hazy, slo-mo fashion) deluded hooker Suki re-enacts a famous tabloid crime from Japanese history & chokes her lover to death with a red sash after making love with him. & if you think it's ironic that the RLD clones & all the rest can slap, spit and choke girls out on the video shelves, but I can't have a girl choke a guy in an OBVIOUSLY fictional narrative (I had to make the clip in the DVD hard cut, too), then ... you're paying attention.

So, in other words, although it's "adult" entertainment, the standards of what sort of adult behavior (besides sex) you can portray in any context are actually tigher than, oh say -- Adult Swim? Certainly light years more restrictive than FX, USA ... actually, if you look at network TV, more restrictive than that, too!!! (this is doubtless also why Playboy TV seems to continue to flounder financially, as they are still catering to a extinct mentality that "good" adult entertainment stays away from politics, the real world or any truly "mature" themes.)

This is at least one of the reasons why, over on the "feature side," you very rarely get anybody with any noticeable degree of vision or originality even ATTEMPTING to make anything for that market ... although it's lucrative enough for the production companies who get their bang for both soft & hard versions, if the auteur in question is just the hired help, making nothing more than between $2000 and $8,000 for his trouble, it's really not worth the heartbreak and disappointment.

That's why most of the (old school) guys -- notice I said, MOST of, oh sensitive ones -- who excel on the softcable world are those who utlilize their creativity only in finding ways to pad the budget, keeping in mind that when it comes to "content," straying from the mind-numbingly same-old same-old will only disrupt the cash flow.

As has been sort of mentioned in this thread, in the U.S. at least, there is no porn Sundance -- or even Cannes, for that matter -- where there is an actual interest in the art & quality of this genre of filmmaking. In porn, there are no breakout indie hits -- only companies that have been around forever coming up with testosterone-laden new monikers they think sound "dangerous" & that they think skew "young" that they hope will create some consumer excitement over the same old s---.

Why Is My Site So Ugly?

Jon Stern writes:

I was recently browsing Luke's site www.lukeisback.com and was so curious as to why someone that ran such a popular site would make it look so damn s---ty. If he is making money from all those advertisers on there, you think he would give two f---s about how he presented his life and pay for someone to design a new site for him. When he posts pictures it looks like a 5th grader learning html put them up for him, all the s--- runs together and there is not one bit of formatting whatsoever to it...nothing is in bold, so you can't see where one article starts and the next ends, the interviews looks like s--- for the same reason, nothing stands out at all on the site...just a s---load of text running together. I thank him for his in depth look at the porn industry, but come on Luke, get a nice design going man, save us from looking at that s--- all day long.

Leslie Sharp Interview

I met Leslie July 14.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005, I talk to Leslie on the phone (and notice for the first time that she has a slight Puerto Rican accent, which didn't show up in her GFY posts).

"You don't look Puerto Rican," I tell the tall curvy blonde.

"A lot of people tell me that," Leslie says.

She ran Vivid's online division for over two years until leaving last week.

"The roofers are here," she complains. "They're gone to lunch now, thank God. It felt like I had aliens walking on my roof all morning. It's like a hostage situation. I don't want to leave with a bunch of people at my house."

When she was a girl, Leslie wanted to become a doctor. "I'm great at anatomy. I'm good at sciences. My sister went to pharmacy school. I know all the medications and what they do. A lot of people in the industry (D$, Jen, Tina Fiore, etc), when they're sick, they come to me. I prefer the herbal approach to the chemical approach."

Leslie, who's lived in California since 1983, studied Psychology in college. Then she worked in the gas industry in San Bernadino County for several years before transitioning to radio sales and marketing.

"[In 1998] I was prompted to go to a fetish party by my assistant because I was way too uptight. I've always played it safe.

"I took the afternoon off. I bought a crazy dominatrix outfit, stained my hair blue and wore black lipstick. I went to the Naked Hollywood party in a mansion (Leslie in the middle, with a black wig and black dress). I was freaked out. I talked to this IT (Information Technology) recruiter. I told him I was into computers.

"About six months later, he calls me recruiting for IGallery. He thinks it's my dream job. I freaked out on him. 'How could you insult me like this?'

"He was definitely one of the best sales people I've ever met. I never thought I'd consider such a thing. I said, I'm going to go home and talk to my fiancé (attorney Sean Erenstoft). If he thinks it's ok, I'll meet with your people.

"I went to IGallery and met with Greg Dumas. I liked everybody in the office. I started (in early 1999 and left in late 2001) in content and affiliate sales and worked my way up to Affiliate Manager."

Luke: "Why did IGallery collapse so dramatically?"

Leslie: "How do I put it? The fall of IGallery had nothing to do with shady things. It was about not having a face representing them on the boards, shows, and overall. A few months after I left, they found themselves with very little affiliate traffic coming in. Webmasters are loyal, most of them sought me out and moved their traffic over to my new venture. There was also an issue with their stock (NOOF) skyrocketing and then dropping dramatically."

Luke: "Did you know IGallery was collapsing when you made your exit?"

Leslie: "Not at all."

Luke: "Why did you leave?"

Leslie: "When I went to work there, everybody was so happy. We all looked forward to going to work every day. We walked in the office and smiled at each other and had lunch with each other... But about a year into my job there, IGallery went public, we all got stock, and TEN (The Erotic Network) came in and they started changing everything. It went from a happy place to a sad place. A lot of people left. A lot of people got fired. TEN didn't understand the internet business. They were trying to run it like a cable company. That just doesn't work.

"To me, satisfaction with the job is the most important thing. I was making a lot of money, mostly commissions. Every year, I tripled the revenue for the affiliate program. They asked me to justify how much money I was getting paid. Why do I need to justify my paycheck? It was 80% commissions. The numbers speak for themselves. I think they thought they could hire somebody for $30,000 a year and keep the same volume. They eliminated my commissions which forced me to leave. Then they realized that they can't bring someone in for $30,000 a year and get the same results. [TEN executives] Michael Wiener and Mark Krieloff have since acknowledged that."

Luke: "Where did you go?"

Leslie: " Paul Lesser (Ron Levi's former business partner with Cybererotica,) was always trying to hire me despite some issues between IGallery and Cybererotica, so Ron and I were not friends at this point.

"I emailed Paul. Ron Levi answered my email. Ron said, I bought Paul Lesser out but I am interested in talking.

"I was blown away. We'd never spoken beyond hello. I went in to talk to Ron and he was so good to me. He completely took care of me. 'We want you to come on board as an employee to run our content division.' Ron knew I was used to making more money than he was willing to pay so he set me up with a consulting deal with Jack Gallagher to in tandem handle Babenet's affiliate marketing and content department.

"It went so well that I set up my own corporation and I turned Ron and Jack into clients."

Luke: "How well did you know Babenet [a company notorious for its unethical business practices]?"

Leslie: "I had previously socialized with Rob Gould but the first time I met Jack was in Ron Levi's office. As a consultant, I restructured and marketed their affiliate program, ran their content sales but I didn't go into their operations."

Luke: "Did you do a Google search on them [which would reveal articles on Wired.com about the thieving ways of Jack Gallagher, Rob Gould and other Babenet principals]?"

Leslie: "No. I trusted Ron and he set up the deal for me. Babenet had several companies. I wasn't privy to what the other companies were doing. Same with IGallery. I came in, did my job, got a paycheck and went home."

Luke: "You didn't have a sense that you were working for some bad people [at Babenet]?"

Leslie: "No. Babenet took good care of me and my clients, with the exception of the last payout period for which nobody got paid, including me."

Luke: "So were you shocked when they lost their banking?"

Leslie: "Yes, more like horrified."

I have such a hard time hearing Leslie on the phone that I'm jamming my phone so far up my ear that I fear I'll suffer permanent injury.

Luke: "Why did you and Vivid part ways?"

Leslie: "I haven't had a vacation since 2002. During my whole time running Vivid Cash, I took three days off. I'm financially sound. I want to take time off and focus on myself and figure out where to go from here. Both the folks over at Webquest and Vivid have been great, but there's nowhere for me to move up to from where I was at running the program for Webquest.

"I was so dedicated to succeeding at my job, I even lost my marriage in the process. Ron Levi warned me against doing so but it was already too late, so I had to cut my losses and move on. "I became emotionally attached to VividCash. It was my baby. We had to work harder on our tours to make it sexy and alluring without showing even one nipple. We prefer to be very softcore outside of the members section. If some kid landed on there by accident, he wouldn't get it. If everybody did what we did, we'd all be making a lot more money. So many companies are just giving it away. Why buy the cow when you can milk her for free?"

Luke: "How did your family react to your working in porn?"

Leslie: "I didn't tell them until the January 2004 AVN Online magazine profiled me. I left the magazine lying around in my kitchen. I came out of the shower to find my mom and dad reading AVN Online.

"My parents are very conservative but they were ok with it.

"If I would've told them when I first started, they would've freaked out. But after they saw that I had been doing it for five years and it hadn't changed me..."

SMART, SEXY, SHARP: Vivid Interactive's Leslie Sharp

Frank Meyer writes for AVN Online:

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Sharp, whose first language is Spanish, moved to San Antonio, Texas for a year when she was 13 before settling in Riverside, Calif. for her teens. "Yeah, I did time in Riverside, the armpit of America," she jokes. "I was a punk as a teen and way into the whole Goth scene, with the blue-black hair and black fingernails and stuff."

She soon grew out of her punk ways and began to pursue a career. Despite her aspirations to be a social worker ("I wanted to make a difference. I was tired of seeing our ridiculous welfare system. I have this whole welfare reform plan that someday I will get out there"), while working through college Sharp found work in the gas industry, where she learned sales and marketing before she packed her bags and headed to Los Angeles for a career in radio. That was 1995.

"I wanted something more glamorous, but when the gas company met me, they hired me right away. I ended up computerizing the whole place, but I got bored of it after a couple of years and wanted to do something exciting. I almost became a P.I."

Was Missing Woodland Hills Woman Murdered?

Does amateur model Iryna Singerman, age 21, have a porn connection?

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. -- Police on Thursday were investigating a possible murder in Woodland Hills, NBc4's Robert Kovacik reported.

This sounds like the Natel King story, an amateur model who was murdered by her photographer.

Layla Jade Attacks Steve Banan And His Wife Nicole Moore?

Layla responds: "I have no idea what he is talking about."

Steve Banan writes:

Los Angeles July 28, 2005 –– My wife actress Nicole Moore and I were out Tuesday enjoying a delightful evening. After dinner at a steakhouse in Burbank with my brothers their wifes and many friends, Nicole and I decided to have a drink at Sardo's on our way home. When we arrived, we were greeted as we entered by the proprietor Seymour and photographed by one or two photographers. I noticed adult director Roy Karsh busy talking to reporter Gram Ponante and many friends stopped Nicole and I to say hello as we inched our way over to the bar.

We were enjoying our drinks and Nicole was telling me about how relaxed I looked this evening, when all of a sudden Layla Jade came rushing by slamming her elbow into my back that caused me to slam my body into Nicole causing major discomfort to Nicole. Layla Jade fell to the ground turned around looked at us with a smile on her face. Nicole started yelling at her as she ran off. Layla Jade hurt me and Nicole; I hope she did not cause any serious damage to my back.

This vendetta of hers has been going on since she convinced a young man to get into my face at the last KSEX awards. I ask you do I need to have bodyguards around me and my wife twenty-four seven? Nicole and I left Sardo's that evening with a bad taste in our mouths. Layla Jade ruined the enjoyable evening that we set out earlier to have. I hope you are finally happy and got off on what you did Ms. Jade.

Sky Lopez Finds God

I first talked to her in January 2000. She was a wild child, hanging out with Chuck Martino at the time. She became a Vivid girl and then had a falling out with Marci Hirsch.

Sky writes on MySpace:

Aloha, some call me Sky Lopez, "but you can call me Springbreak!" You might know me from the adult industry. You may have seen me in Playboy Magazine, Penthouse, Club, XXL, Revolver, Playboy TV, E-Channel, VH1 or many other places. I am no longer in the Adult Industry because I found the Lord last May and have been on a Christian walk. I am by no means perfect or sinless (who is but God?) but I do try everyday to build my relationship with him and to be a better person.

On her blog, Sky writes:

SAY THIS SLOWLY: Jesus----I----Love-----You-----and------Need-----You---- Repost this within 5 minutes and a miracle will happen tonight.

Burt Kearns On Legs McNeil

Burt, author of Tabloid Baby and consulting producer to A Current Affair, writes me:

Legs McNeil has his obsessions and he has a point of view in his new book, but I, along with the many attorneys who work for his publisher, can attest that he does not cook the books [as C.J. Laing alleges on DVD Maniacs]. He doesn't have to.

I was there and watched Legs do dozens of interviews for his book. I've seen his voluminous archives and source material for his book. I also saw that some of the people he interviewed might someday forget or deny what they told him or his very experienced and talented associates, including his co-author Jennifer Osbourne.

I've known Legs for close to 30 years. One thing he has done since his pioneering days as the inspiration and flagbearer for Punk magazine, is, story by story, and on his own, turn himself into a journalist. He's proud of it and we're proud of him. The subjects of Legs' book may not be reliable, but Legs is, certainly.

So don't get caught up in the tide that's turned by folks who didn't get free copies of the book.

E2K Terror Connection? Does Hiring Hookers Finance Terrorism? Does Using Escorts Make The Terrorists Win?

Macrific writes: "New York federal agents were in Los Angeles this month talking to providers from E2K about a possible terror connection. Rumor has it any of the girls that did not come clean about their employment @ E2K i.e. lied about what they did or refused to talk are going to get locked up as part of the conspiracy. The ones that come clean get a free pass."

DaWankus posts:

Homeland Securities ICE division is involved because of an international money funneling scheme, not necessarily connected to terrorism, but illegal activities bearing huge consiquences on E2K and all involved in the business side none the less. The girls should be okay unless they made lots of money and didn't report it to the IRS.

Fast Eddie writes:

There were two factors that I believe instigated the bust, one involving ICE and the other involving Homeland Security. Which agency came first I'm not sure. First off, E2K wasn't the primary target of the bust/investigation. It was a sister agency that specialized primarily in non-pse providers. Apparently most of these girls were Eastern European and there was some irregularities in their visas. Whether or not they were in the country illegally I don't know for sure, but I'm assuming that very may well have been the case. This is were ICE became involved... E2K was simply a bonus for the Feds.

Additionally, Elana's (the owner of the agencies) husband/boyfriend Alex was from the Middle East and had a criminal record. Some say he was in this country illegally, but I don't know it that's true or not. In any case, it appears he was sending a lot of money from the agency to family in the Middle East, I'm guessing to launder it or just to get it out of the country, which attracted the attention of Homeland Security.

Apparently some of the girls who had worked with E2K have recently been approached by Homeland Security. As to "cooperate or else", I don't know if there's anything to that, but I tend to doubt it. Keep in mind that these women were not employees of the agency... they were independent contractors, working as social escorts to provide time and companionship for the agency's clients. From what I hear E2K was meticulous about 1099 forms, so as long as the girls filed accurate tax returns and paid the taxes on the money earned from E2K, they shouldn't be at risk.

Whether this whole thing was truly about internal security or just a conservative government using every means at its disposal to bring down a high-profile escort agency is anyone's guess.

Mark Kernes (who spent a few months in jail for tax evasion) writes:

Unless, of course, the girls had additional income that they *didn't* report, in which case they're f---ed.

Let me remember: *What* did they finally get Al Capone on?

Anyone who knows my history knows I've dealt with those people. It wasn't fun, and it cost me a bundle.

(Hint: Pleading the Fifth Amendment anywhere on your tax return where it asks for "income" may be legitimate legally and an interesting approach to tax protesting, but it is unlikely to be successful in court.)

The IRS is America's equivalent of a sort of more-civilized Gestapo. When Nixon put together his "enemies list," who did he give it to for action? Three guesses.

The IRS code is so complex that if you were to put five IRS agents in separate rooms and give them all the same data of even a slightly complicated tax situation, you would get five different answers as to the amount of tax owed. What that means is that if the IRS wants to get you, it will.

The IRS is The Enforcer; the tax code is so "flexible" (read: complex and poorly written) that ANY return can be questioned, and errors CAN be found no matter who prepares it for you -- and "tax fraud" is a heavy federal penalty. Hence, when the government (or any branch of it, like, say, Homeland Security) wants to put you in a position where you have to bargain for your freedom (or your life savings), the first place they turn is the IRS.

It's a fact of life. Know it. Live it. Work for change.

A valuable source writes me:

The feds were never looking at them for any connection to terrorists. I was with some major FBI agents in a secret location in Manhattan and they brought in some special IRS agents. I spoke to all of them, they had pictures of Elana and Alex. This is years ago. I took a female agent into the office and she was hired to do work. She never did but that was all it takes. An IRS Agent who was working on the case was killed in a non work related way. Customs or ICE went forward because of the girls Elana brought over from Europe. The IRS was trying to play catch up but ICE had to move. They took down E2K. The IRS moves slow but they will get every one of the girls, even if it was five grand, it is a crime not to file! The way of the country has changed. They will get these girls. The have all the files. Trust me. These girls made big bucks.

Outfit Update

Chicago's top federal prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald (the Special Prosecutor in the Plame case), is looking into the Outfit's (Chicago Mafia) links beyond the hired trucking scandal. This one involves city approval for strip joints, jerk-off rooms in adult stores, etc. That business in Chicago is still controlled by the Outfit.

Porn Star Karaoke At Sardo's Bar

Sophie Dee, Craig C Sophie, Craig Sophie, Craig Layla Jade, Dustin Kilimin Layla, Dustin Layla, Dustin Layla Jade Ambr- Tomassi, husband N-lvac Ambr-, N-lvac Ambr-, N-lvac Ric Williams, Ambr- Ric, Ambr- Ric, Ambr- Layla Jade, Dustin Kilimin Layla, Dustin Layla, Dustin Layla, Dustin (L-R) Jocelyn Pink, Jersey Jaxin, Rusty Nails Jocelyn, Jersey, Rusty Jocelyn, Jersey, Rusty Jocelyn, Jersey, Rusty Jocelyn, Jersey Loraine, James Powder, Loraine, James Jersey Jersey Jersey Jocelyn, Jersey Jocelyn, Jersey Jocelyn, Jersey Jocelyn, Jersey Jocelyn, Jersey Jersey, Wankus, Jocelyn Jersey, Wankus, Jocelyn Jersey, Wankus, Jocelyn Jersey, Wankus Genesis Skye Genesis Genesis, Seymour Genesis, Seymour Genesis, Seymour Rusty Nails, Sophie Dee Rusty, Sophie Rusty, Sophie Sophie Dee Sophie Sophie David, Gonzo Black friend, Gonzo, Davyn Gonzo, Davyn Gonzo, Davyn Gonzo, Davyn Gonzo, Davyn (L-R) Rusty, Jocelyn, Jersey, Wayne Hentai Rusty, Jocelyn, Jersey, Wayne Rusty, Jersey Rusty, Jersey Rusty, Jersey Lexi Lamour, Ethan Cage Ric, Layla Ric, Layla Ric, Layla Ric, Layla Ambr-, N-lvac Genesis, Robyn, Craig Bad Ass Models.com crew (L-R): Tricia Oaks, Serena Sin, Julea London, Jessica Hanson, Frank Hailey Young, Tricia, Serena, Julea, Jessica, Frank Bad Ass Models.com Bad Ass Models.com Hailey Young Hailey Hailey Hailey Hailey Seymour, Erin Moore, Flower Erin, Seymour, Flower Erin, Seymour, Flower Julea London Julea, Jessica, Frank Hailey, Julea, Jessica, Frank Hailey, Julea, Jessica, Frank Hailey, Julea Hailey Julea, Jessica (L-R) Julea London, Jessica Hanson Tia Brodie Tia Frank, Tricia Oaks Frank, Tricia Frank, Tricia Frank, Tricia Julea, Jessica, Frank, Tricia Genesis, Craig Hailey, Serena Jenner Craig, Kristen Hailey, Wankus Hailey, Wankus Hailey, Wankus Frank, Tricia Julea London Julea Julea Miss Kicik Miss K Miss K

Ambr- and N-lvac have been together 13 years (since highschool) and in porn since 1995. They have three websites (igalix.com, Ambr-splace.com and iliketof---.com).

The Bad Ass Models.com crew shows up at 10:15pm. I ask Bad Ass Frank if I can interview his girl Hailey Young. She's eager to talk. Frank warns her to be careful what she says. "He's craft."

When Hailey was a kid, she wanted to be an elementary math teacher. "I love kids, but I don't want to have them on my own.

"The couple of years that I attended a public highschool [in Florida], I hung out with the wrong crowd and got into some bad situations. Then I cleaned up and went to a private school to graduate.

"I was a good student until I got into highschool.

"I got into porn when I turned 18. I was dating an older guy who worked for an Adult production company in Florida. I ended up going in as a production assistant. After a couple of years, I decided I wanted to work on the other side of the camera."

She's appeared in about 20 movies. "I haven't had a boyfriend [in over a year] because I work so much. I don't want to have a guy interfere with my career.

"I'm always online marketing myself and talking to my fans and building up my fanbase. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am now."

Hailey's surprised by the number of porn stars on drugs. "A lot of people are in it for the wrong reasons."