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Paul Fishbein's AVN Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight 12/10/98 "This is only the tip of the iceberg," spoke Deep Throat to Luke Wednesday evening. "I am going to make you the most powerful journalist in the industry. There isn’t going to be an office in the industry that isn’t tuned to your web site, reloading every ten minutes. You are the right man at the right time at the right place." Deep Throat (some consortium of anti-AVN, Vivid and VCA forces) says: A powerful East Coast consortium is rumored to be gearing up with a magazine designed to go head-to-head with AVN sometime in 1999. One of the principals involved is supposed to have deep pockets and is very upset with the way he’s been treated by AVN in the past. The same deal was also rumored two years ago but it is now being given credence because a current AVN employee is said to be involved. Members of the group met secretly in Florida this past October. AVN’s Paul Fishbein, sensing the Luke F-rd series of exposes are getting out of hand, is making frantic phone calls around the industry to find an individual to counter-attack Luke F-rd on AVN’s web site. Fishbein is attempting to take the fight to Luke F-rd. An email to Luke from Tessio: "To Paul Fishbein. You’re calling me a gutless coward who won’t identify myself. Let me say this: I’m a FOXE fan and I’m in the position to know more things than the average person in this industry. I know who’s f---ing who. I make it my business to know. And my real identity will become apparent soon enough because I will give you enough clues. Remember Julius Caesar and the Ides of March. Et tu Darren." An email to Luke from Clemenza: "Looks like they’ve let Rob Black’s ex-girlfriend Nikki near the wine bottle again. This is what happens when you let a dumb broad have her say in the company of adults. Nikki, in her email, tells you that she was in a know-all position at Elegant Angel. Yeah, right. Lucas, sweetheart, baby, bubbele, please inform her that Fishbein was out to get her boyfriend from the start but was double-crossed by Gene Ross and company. That’s why Ross is doing penance in the warehouse. No matter what Fishbein says. Think of the whole warehouse episode as the crucifiction and Darren Roberts as Pontius Pilot. "Who does Nikki think cut her boyfriend out of the Playboy airing? It was Fishbein at the urging of Russ Hamp-SHIRE and his henchmen Jack Gallagher [head of Babenet, a company that Russ says he has a financial interest in]. Rob shouldn’t have made all those cracks about Russ. Rob, you are my hero. You had Russ on the ropes. You had him dead-to-rights and then you let him off the hook and sent him roses. What are you? Some kind of f---ing faggot? I bet Fishbein and Hamp-SHIRE are kicking their heels with their TKO over you. Roses?" An email from L. Zorro to Luke: "So AVN managing editor Bryn Pryor never f---ed Chloe. Pryor is saying all this to have some dignity. Chloe dropped him once her career started taking off, thanks in great part to his efforts." [Luke knows of no hard evidence of this report, and in the absence of that, he believes Bryn's wistful denial.] Max Hardcore may be on the outs with his distributor Legend because of his criticisms of AVN on this site. "Sorry, I couldn't answer your phone call," said Max at 8 PM, Wednesday. "I was f---ing these two whores. "[Regarding the question] I deny that I ever had sex with that girl... Sometimes I can't understand what the f--- you're saying," said Max. Luke: "It's because I've got that funny Australian accent. Is Legend giving you pressure over your AVN comments?" Max: "You wanna talk about pressure, Luke? I'll tell you about pressure. I'll tell you about getting your f---ing head squeezed between a couple of leaded thighs. Luke, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I'm on top, I'm number one and anyone who wants to f--- me up, go ahead. "I love Paul Fishbein. He's not a problem. The problem is that he is unleashed a juggernaut that is beyond his control. Things have spun out of his control. I would never want to do any harm to him. I wouldn't harm anybody. "Everybody has their own opinion on what constitutes hard sex. But I always thought that a good hard cock in a pretty little whore and some good piston pumping action constitute, without a lot of dialogue, a hot scene. "Paul has a whole organization that he has to deal with. I pity the dude, I really do. But fortunately I've got all these hot girls to f--- over and over again. We get top girls to shoot unbelievable scenes. And guys know that they've seen them [girls] in other movies and it's been, as you say in Australia, a complete yawner. We do amazing things with these girls." Luke: "Do Vivid and VCA give you any hassle?" Max: "These guys don't have time to bother anybody. They don't have time to organize their own distribution deals, how can they possibly mess with anyone else's deals? They don't have time for that shit and they don't care. I'm friends with all these guys. They don't care. They're too busy dealing with too many phone calls each day... "I've got a hot scoop for you. I'm going to f--- our first Asian whore in a long time tomorrow [Thursday]. What interests people? Talk about the new Asian flesh we'll be working over tomorrow." Wednesday evening Luke read to Rob Black a report that he was making a distribution deal with Max Hardcore. "Luke, that's some funny shit," said Rob. "I hate that cocksucker. I hate that drunk motherf---er. I will stake my family, may the Lord Jesus Christ strike them dead, that will never ever happen in a million years. "Somebody told me that Yoram from New Rave will set up a competitor to AVN. I'd be one of his first advertisers. "The story that they [the Gene Ross led AVN editorial staff] double crossed Paul last year to give me my awards is exactly right. Everybody was punished. They're all in the warehouse now and Darren Roberts is their boss. That is the truth. "Paul Fishbein cut me out of the Awards show [video that is sold by VCA]. He cut me out of the Playboy [airing on cable TV]. Paul don't like me. His staff f---ed Paul. "I beat Russ with my lawyer. He's not using Extreme. I told you on the internet that when I learned he'd no longer use VCA Extreme, I'd send him a dozen roses. Just like 18 months ago I sent my uncle [Chuck Zane] a dozen black stemmed roses. I had them dipped in black. Signifies death. To my uncle - How are you doing? I'm still here. That was also a f----you. So who won? I won. "Russell told me to my face that he had me cut out of the awards show [1998 tape]. 'Because you said all that shit about me. I was going to put that out through my label, you saying all that.' "At the 1998 awards show, I thanked Russell for firing me. I used to work at Plush in 1996 [located in Russ's building]. The first movie that Rob ever did [The Cellar Dwellers] was to be distributed out of Russ's building." Luke: "Russ says he just has a financial interest in Babenet?" Rob: "From what I hear, he owns it. Jack Gallagher runs Babenet. Jack owned Plush through his son Mark Gallagher. Jack gave him the money to open Plush. Jack Gallagher is the buyer for Video Warehouse. If you want to get your videos in there, you have to go through Jack. That's why if you go to Warehouse, the only videos you'll see in there are VCA, Vivid... I think Jack owns the mail order company DTY. "I distributed my company Extreme Video through Plush. I made only one video Tenderloins before Russ got rid of me. I had Cellar Dwellers ready to go out, had the flyers made up, and Russ told me that if I didn't conform, and let him screen everything that I did, that I had to leave. So I went to Elegant Angel." 12/11/98 I hear that Rob Black screamed at Paul Fishbein, Gene Ross and sales manager Jennifer Rosenblatt earlier this week about his lack of nominations. Things have now calmed down between Rob and Paul. I also hear that Rob Black offered VCA director Michael Ninn $250,000 to shoot for Extreme Associates. Ninn turned him down. Black has frequently dissed Ninn, especially in a Screw interview. 12:30PM. Jeff Steward of Legend phones to say that he completely supports Max Hardcore's dismissive view of AVN. "We feel that AVN has been dogging us since last year's show when Max confronted Paul," says Steward, who owns JM Productions. "AVN has never recognized Max. This year Max received no nominations. It's a slap in the face. We support Max 100%. I guess people there don't like him. I guess it's a punishment for his incident with Paul. They don't want to support that type of filth." Luke: "Do you think the AVN Awards are legitimate?" Jeff: "No. I think it's important to advertise there but the reviews don't mean much. They come out three months after the product is released. Do awards help sales? I don't know, we've only won one, for The Violation of Missy, and it made no difference to sales. But is nice to be recognized." At 10AM Friday, I called Randy Kaplan aka Rich C. Leather, who wrote for AVN for about six years, supposedly served part of that time as office manager, and was supposedly fired by Bryn Prior. "Hi, I'm Luke F-rd," I introduce myself. "I write on adult entertainment." Randy: "Why on God's green earth would you think that I would talk to you? You and I are not cut from the same cloth. I know your reputation. You heard that I had left AVN and you are looking for some dirt. Well, I'm not going to give it to you." Randy then hung up. Deep Throat said 12/10/98: Mark Stone rules the AVN Awards show with an iron hand [Mark and Paul would say this is ridiculous]. "Paul Fishbein wimps out every time Mark opens his mouth," says a former Moonlight employee. "Mark believes that the louder you bellow, the more people listen. He has kept the AVN show at amateur level, fearing that really talented acts would show him up." Fishbein replies: "The Mark Stone comments are flat out stupid. It's the AVN show and we run it. Until the market can support a live pay per view event, the income streams are limited if you want to put on a quality event. So we do as much as we can on a tiny budget (compared to the real world)." Throat: "One theory widely discussed in the adult industry in the wake of the scandalous AVN’s attacks on Luke F-rd’s site is whether AVN publisher Paul Fishbein himself has been the mastermind behind the scenario. "Paul’s a f---ing genius," writes Gloria Leonard to Luke. Leonard’s comment would certainly support the speculation that Fishbein is doing it. One, for the publicity to help show ticket sales for the January event. Two, to bring the hammer down on Rob Black, the adult industry’s redheaded stepchild and teach him a lesson on behalf of VCA. And three, set up AVN for the big sell-out, thus leaving the company with a mountain of debt and Fishbein walking away scott free to greener pastures in the mainstream. "Rob Black has comments on everything and generally puts his foot in his mouth," says a VCA insider. "Paul knows this and figures that Rob will respond to all the web site postings and make a public spectacle of himself, thus consolidating sympathetic support for Fishbein. Fishbein is systematically baiting Rob into a lose-lose situation, such as drawing Black into making abusive comments, as in the planted Rob Black – Max Hardcore distribution story. Rob’s going to wind up the fall guy. It’s brilliant. Paul has been getting Luke F-rd to do his dirty work for him. Is Fishbein Deep Throat? If so, members of the current AVN editorial staff are in for a big surprise. Fishbein and Roberts are Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the movie The Producers. Only Roberts is one step ahead of Fishbein." Dumb Barzini emails Luke: "It was Fishbein all along." Tessio writes: "The shit has just begun. December 30th will be a day that lives in AVN infamy. The countdown begins." Paul Fishbein replies: "Luke, consider this new theory and how nutty it sounds. Do I seem like the type of person to mastermind such a scenario. Rob Black and I spoke yesterday [Thursday]. We're fine. If he's still angry, that's OK. I'm not baiting Rob. Do you feel I'm using you to do my dirty work? "Tessio says he's my friend. Tell him I need to know what's happening on December 30, other than me having to pay my taxes." Clemenza writes: "The reason that Gene Ross can brag about sleeping with over 600 women is that Jim South has been supplying him with girls for years. Ross has been South’s bulletproof vest and protects him whenever the agent comes under fire. Rob Spallone was right. Ross covered up for South in the HIV scandal. Spallone should’ve sent Ross some girls. Ross is one sick dude who not only keeps a scoreboard but a hidden surveillance camera in his living room and tapes girls without them knowing it." [Gene Ross found this accusation hilarious and my interview with him runs below.] Deep Throat: "A breaking story says that it was Michael Jordan’s attorneys who pulled the plug on the AVN consumer publication Sexpose. Contrary to the account offered by Ross in his recent interview with Luke, Jordan’s attorneys, riled over the story that described Jordan bedding down with Sexpose’s cupcake editor Kylie Ireland, were going to sue for mega-bucks but Paul Fishbein agreed to discontinue the magazine as a compromise. Though Fishbein and Ireland actively promoted the story through a series of radio appearances, the Ireland-Jordan scandal blew up in Fishbein’s face, resulting in Ireland being ostracized from the adult video community and Fishbein relinquishing Sexpose. Another sex scandal is about to break, linking AVN’s XXX with Mocca, a contract girl with Video Team." Paul Fishbein: "For the dope that made the Michael Jordan story up, we hired a private detective to corrooborate Irelan'd story, then a top libel attorney to keep us out of trouble. Jordan's attorneys threatened because we called Jordan for comment. The story ran and we never heard from them again because it was true. We NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN! We NEVER HEARD FROM THEM AGAIN! How many times do I have to repeat. Sexpose was underfinanced and it wasn't selling well so we disbanded it, on our own. "XXX denies the Mocha lie." Deep Throat: "Ten Questions that Paul Fishbein can’t answer (the first in a series): 1.XXX [Luke pulled the plug on several questions until he can find more evidence for them than just Deep Throat's say so.]
Paul: " Max could have been
nominated for several sex scenes, including his infamous scene with Marilyn
Star and Best Series for Max World. Perhaps, but he never sent the tapes
in so the staff could not look at them." 3.XXX 4.XXX Paul: "Darren Roberts has no connections to the Skinflicks line. When his wife [Allison Roberts] left Xcel, she teamed with Anita Rinaldi (who produced Planet Sexx) to form the company that will be releasing Planet Sexx 2. Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, look at the movie and read the reviews in other magazines (Hustler, Adam Film World, etc) and not AVN. Otherwise, feel free to come up with some new conspiracy theories." 6. How much did you and Steve Hirsch rake in together with your video store partnerships before you realized 18 months later that it may have looked like a conflict of interest? Paul: "I don't know why I feel the need to answer this but when I got out of those stores, AVN took about a $70,000 loss. That's how much I made, approximately minus $70,000. Do you think one of these 50/50 stores without peeps or novelties (when I was involved, all we sold was video) makes that much money in L.A.? 7. You said you weren’t covering it up, but were researching the Elegant Angel story about the $5 million dollars lawsuit being filed against Elegant. The story first broke in July. Does it usually take six months to research a simple story that takes a couple of phone calls? Paul: "The Elegant Angel story will run when we're good and ready. So go f--- yourself." 8. Would you openly invite an independent audit of video distribution sales figures against those reported on the AVN sales charts? Paul: "Guess what? I've been saying for years that the sales charts are seriously seriously flawed. We depend on wholesale distributors who often just give us information off the tops of their heads. I've been considering getting rid of them altogether but the companies still want it. I've asked for suggestions on how to do it scientifically but business doesn't allow for it. So yes, please, find an indepndent auditor to research this and take the burden away. On the other hand, the rental charts are derived from computer reports from retailers so they are much more accurate." 9. May we see all the market research data that supports the adult industry charts found in the AVN Entertainment Guide? Paul: "The market research comes from thousands of surveys returned from retailers to outr offices. If anyone want to come in and look at some of these surveys, the answet is yes....here in my office. I will not let these out of my sight because they contain and the names addresses and phone numbers of retailers and they help comprise our effective mailing list. But you can come peruse. In fact, Tessio, why don't you come and look at the stuff and the ballots from the awards show. Call me and come in, say before December 30. But you must reveal yourself first." 10. Is the reason that you fired Yoram Dohan that he was working a deal with Private that you were trying to work for yourself and he stepped on your toes? Paul: "Yes I fired Yoram because he was secretly trying to work a deal to start a magazine behind my back with Private and was trying to round up support from our advertisers on AVN time. He was sneaky, but forgot the loyalty that the customers had to me so they sold him out immediately. I asked him to sign a non-compete agreement which would have gone with a lucrative employment agreement. He refused, I had the goods on him and I fired him. However, I had no deal with Private, none was discussed and none are on the table." Rodger Jacobs aka Martin Brimmer edits New Rave and Dirty for Yoram Dohan. Rodger says: "With regards
to Rob Black's remarks yesterday that he "heard Yoram Dahan" is trying
to set up a publication to rival A.V.N. I can only say the following:
as editor of New Rave and Dirty since May of this year I have heard nothing
to this effect. In fact, since taking over the reigns at New Rave and
Dirty the magazine has began to increase in visibility and viability within
the adult entertainment industry. We now regularly receive requests on
a daily basis from production companies and porn Gene Ross phoned at 10:35 AM. "Did Jordan’s lawyers get involved with Sexpose? I don’t know. I just know that Paul and Ted Liebowitz pulled the plug on it… I had the impression that Liebowitz wanted to go on with it… "Paul openly discussed some things. He had fully expected to get some kind of response from him [Jordan]… I know that [AVN legal columnist] Clyde DeWitt was called in on some matters relative to it… "I wish Jim South would send me girls. Who the f--- is coming up with this shit? I keep a scoreboard [of the number of women he lays]? When I was younger I did, and I might’ve said that to somebody… When I was younger, that was a source of humor. I had a counter where I could flip numbers… I’d bring a woman into my apartment and she’d say, ‘What’s number 126 mean?’ And I’d say, ‘it means nothing.’ She’d leave the house the next day and see number 127… I guess it would never dawn on her. It was always a source of conversation…" Gene started laughing when the topic of his supposed hidden surveillance camera came up. "That’s a great idea, dammit. I wish I’d thought of that. I could have my own video line and have a great old age. The total candid candid camera… I could get women from the business… I love that." Luke: "What happened to reviewer Rich C. Leather [Randy Kaplan]?" Gene: "Bryn as the managing editor deals with the freelance writers. Rich had a bug up his ass. He was claiming that AVN owed him money… Rich went to the mat with Bryn in the past regarding a review…dealt with Santino Lee. I was on the periphery of it, some kind of tape that Rich reviewed… Santino Lee was upset about something. Bryn was in the middle of it. That’s all I know… I heard that Rich Leather held tapes hostage and sent a message saying that I’m holding these tapes hostage until AVN squares up with money they owe me for reviews. That got ridiculous. I think Bryn said, ‘I don’t need this shit. This guy’s controversial… He gets….’ Bryn told him that you’re service are no longer required. End of story. A few weeks ago. I had to re-review some of the tapes that he was supposed to have handed in as a review. 12/15/99 Kendra Jade phoned Luke at 1:45 PM, 12/15/98. "Are you on John Bone’s payroll?" Luke: "No." Kendra: "Ok then, because if you were I’d be too scared to talk to you." Jade, at home in Connecticut, burst into tears over the phone. "John Bone repossessed my car. He put a lien on my apartment. The guy that I rent it from, Martin, is a good friend of John’s and the same person John rents his studio from. You know how John was supposed to pay my rent for the [free] shoot I did. He never did. John told Martin that he has the right to go in there and take all of my stuff because the rent wasn’t paid and John’s name is on the lease as well. So John is taking all my stuff because he claims that I owe him money. Even though I did all these shoots for him (3-4 in the last month) and he never paid anything. "John has taken everything that I own. He’s cleared out my bank accounts because they were in John’s name and mine." Luke: "How much money did he take from your bank account?" Kendra: "God only knows. I have no idea. He called me this morning and he said: ‘You no longer have anything. You took all the press people that I introduced you to. You called Luke, Gene Ross and Mike Albo. And now you want to use those people against me. f--- you. I’ve taken everything that you own and you have nothing.’" Kendra sobs over the phone. "I’m going to try to get on a plane tomorrow and get back out to LA and try to fix something. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. "When I came out to LA, I didn’t have any credit. I didn’t have anything. So he [John Bone] co-signed with me on everything. A week ago he was telling me ‘you can still keep your car, even if you don’t work for me. I’m not going to f--- with you. I’m not going to do anything.’ "I didn’t trash him to anybody. I didn’t f--- him over. The problem was, Luke, he couldn’t give me enough work to pay my bills. Then when he did give me work, he f---ed me on the money anyway. So I need to find some way so that I can f---ing live. "As time went by, I was just incurring more debt. So I had to get out [of Cream] so I could pay everything off. I guess now I don’t have to worry about it because he f---ed me on everything. I want everyone to be aware of how much of a f---ing miserable f---ing prick he is. They shouldn’t work for him because most of the time they won’t get paid, and if they do, most of the time they will get a bad check. He bounces checks on everybody. I stood by him through the whole thing. I worked for him at times when he had no money to pay anybody, I worked for him for nothing just so he could keep the company going. And then he f---s me. So right now I have no place to live, no car and no money. He is the biggest manipulator and liar I’ve ever met in my entire life. "The f---ing Jerry Springer thing. Was he entitled to any of that money? No. Did he do anything? No. Did he f---ing sleep with Jerry? No. He [John Bone] was the one who took all the money and do you know know what he did with all that money ($350,000 from Jerry Springer)? He bought himself a car and he bought me a car. He just had my car repossessed so he never bought me anything. "He pissed through all the Jerry Springer money because his company is broke again. Gene Ross is on his payroll. I was scared to call you because I didn’t know if you were too. "I was in the office every single day. I know how much money he has. There were days when he couldn’t even pay his employees. He hasn’t paid my rent in two months." Luke: "Doesn’t your cousin Donny work for John?" Kendra: "While I’ve been gone, John has filled their heads with something… I talked to Shay [Cream employee]. She was my assistant and roadie [when Kendra danced on the road]. I’ve known her for seven years and she turned on me like that. I loved her like my f---ing sister… "He’s left me with nothing but a pile of debt. He was the one who convinced me to move to LA in the first place. I was fine here [in Connecticut] and just flying out to shoot for him. I had an apartment and a car… And I gave it all up to go out there to work for him because he gave me a whole bunch of promises. I just hope that at 60 years old, when he looks in the mirror, he feels really good about himself. That he just f---ed a 21-year old girl for everything she had. [John is 51 years old.] "He’s mad at me because I left. That I went to the people [Luke, Gene Ross, Mike Albo] that he had supposedly introduced me to and used it against him. If I left him, he wanted me to quit the business… But he’s left me with too much debt to just walk away. "You know what John told me (before we got into a fight) about Kristen? That he had promised her a contract and all that because he wanted to piss off Matt Zane and because she knew lots of the young girls in the business and as soon as he got more girls, he was done with her. "When John offered me the contract, I didn’t know anything about him. And I took it and I wish that I had been smarter." Luke: "What about Zoe?" Kendra: "I like Zoe. But she believes in John and that he will turn his business around. She’s the same person I was, in that I really believed in John. I believed everything he told me. "He is very charming. He can make you believe anything he says. He can tell you the sky is pink and convince you that it is. Finally I got smart, that he was scamming me… "When I go back to LA, I need to work immediately so that I can put a roof over my head." Luke: "How sure are you that Gene Ross is on his payroll?" Kendra: "Because I was in the office. I’d see Gene come in every Friday and get paid. I hate to say anything or even tread in that water because he’s another person [Gene Ross] who can f--- me really hard in the industry and I’m sure he will." Gene Ross and John Bone deny the charges. John at 4:20PM: "Kendra owes me $4000 for money I loaned her. She has not paid December rent on her house even though she has three girls who sublet from her and pay her rent. She told Martin that she’d pay the rent on the 12/22… Then she told Shay to rent a truck and that she was going to get all her stuff out and run, leaving me owing the landlord $1200 rent plus $800 in bad checks she wrote to D.W.P.. On top of this, I was paying for a leased car for her. "Last Thursday she and her friends appeared drunk on the Howard Stern show. I ripped her a new asshole. On Friday, she and her stepmother Kelly Shambers went on a flurry to f--- me over. They called you, Gene Ross, Mike Albo and Peter Bond, with all kinds of terrible stories about me. I believe they were even threatening Gene to print all sorts of bad things about him. "They called every enemy I have in the industry…Rob Black, Zane who wouldn’t take her call, and Charley Frey. "Should I continue to guarantee the lease on her car and payments on her house for someone who’s f---ing me over? Her car has been returned to the lease company because I will no longer guarantee it and her landlord issued a three day pay or quit notice because he knew that she intended to run out. "I called her mother, who she had me evict from her house a month ago, and asked her if I could send her Kendra’s stuff. She didn’t want anything to do with Kendra. "She has one bank account at Pacific National Bank which has been overdrawn for three months. It’s not in my name and I didn’t guarantee it. They’re going after her for money she owes them. "Jerry Springer paid me nothing. I had no legal transactions with Jerry Springer. "Kendra’s never met Kristen. Kendra went berserk when I signed another girl. She threatened to punch her [Kristen] out. "Every time someone has an argument with me, they always attack Gene Ross." Macy: "We’ve been subletting from Kendra… I have receipts of money we’ve paid her. This is a screwed up situation and she’s really blown it for herself." Shay: "I pay her $400 a month. And Macy and Michelle give her $200 a month. I have no idea of what is going on with her. It’s changed ten times today…" Kendra’s uncle Donny works for John and he also believes that Kendra is giving John a bad shake. Jade is a controversial young woman who’s alienated many of those she’s come into contact with in porno. I hear that she is now back with dance agent Charley Frey. She’s been phoning around the industry looking for a contract but no one has offered her one. 12/16 Update: Kendra phoned back to say that she is working things out with John Bone. I talked to Gene Ross at 4 PM, 12/15/98. Gene: "I’m talking with John [Bowen] today. He said, ‘isn’t it odd that anytime I get involved in a partnership that breaks up, somebody makes some godawful comments about you and that you have some interest in this company. Let’s follow the pattern.’ "I wrote an article this past summer about John’s partnership breakup with Charley Frey. Charley was not happy that I did the story. He confronted me at the VSDA show and said, ‘I thought we were friends.’ I said, ‘Charley, we are friends. I played it down the middle. You did make the quotes you said.’ Charley: ‘Yeah, but did you have to quote everything I said.’ Gene: ‘Well gee, Charley, I am a journalist.’ "Well, no sooner did all this happen than these stories about Gene Ross having a financial interest in Cream started hitting your website. So, I’m talking to John and asking him if he knew where these stories could be coming from? And he said, [Gene does a great imitation of John’s British accent] ‘Oh, it could possibly be Charley. This sounds like Charley’s work.’ "I asked him and he said, ‘oh no, Gene, it wasn’t me. I would never say anything like that.’ But he said it in a tone of voice that made me think ‘yeah, Charley, I’m sure you never did.’ Oh well, that’s water over the damn. Who gives a crap? "Then, all of a sudden, last week, Kendra makes a complete fool of herself on the Howard Stern show. John goes berserk. They have words and one thing leads to another. Boom. That situation is over. I think John will tell you that she gave him the final excuse to let her go because he’s been talking about it with his people over there… He had said something about he was going to make a decision at the beginning of the year, take a look at where his company was going with contract girls… He was of the impression that Kendra wasn’t really moving tapes. That she had that Jerry Springer notoriety and that worked but after that, there was no magic. "Now we find out that Kendra Jade is in Charley Frey’s camp. [Kendra’s stepmom] Kelly Jade called me last Friday. She’s trying to get a story done on Kendra. And all of a sudden, she’s telling me that I have a financial interest in Cream. It was something she heard. From who? She wouldn’t say. I said, you better be damn careful because now you’re bordering on libel. "So the next thing I here is that Kelly and Charley Frey are in bed together on a business deal. Then you email me today that a tearful Kendra Jade told you that I’m on John’s payroll, and I’m over there every Friday afternoon picking up checks. "You’ve got to understand Luke, that we have the secret desk here where people drop off bribes. [Sarcastic] Now why would I pick up something when I’ve made it easy for John to come here and stick the envelope in the secret desk? "So anyway, this is absolutely nonsensical. Why is it every time that someone has a bone to pick with John Bone they say this about me? John says, ‘I don’t hide anything. I tell people I get blowjobs and whatever… So they can’t attack me. But you have the squeaky clean image so everybody tires to tarnish it.’" [Luke: Charley Frey was not my primary source on the Gene Ross has a financial interest in John Bone story. I heard it from a couple of other porners in July, and I guess it is a story that has floated around. Charley and Jasmine have said that Bone planned to bring Gene Ross on board with Cream in the fall of 1998 and ‘f--- Paul Fishbein up the ass.’] Luke: "Oh well. Kendra says that Jerry Springer paid $350,000 to John." Gene: "I have no clue about that. The story I heard was that Kendra set up Jerry Springer… Kendra’s idea all along was to break Jasmine’s gangbang record… The Springer people contacted John and set up a meeting with Kendra… "I never heard a dollar figure… I heard that a lot of people were going to get sued. Kendra wanted to be a tabloid superstar. She wanted to get on the Howard Stern show and she wanted to make a name for herself. "Kendra sought a contract from Rob Black but he turned her down. Rob said to me [and Gene does a great imitation of how Rob speaks] ‘I couldn’t be involved doing this… Everything is cool with Jasmin. What am I going to do? Bring some whackdoodle into camp and drive Jasmin crazy… I don’t want to f--- with that.’" Luke asks Gene to imitate Luke’s accent. Gene tries but it comes out sounding like John Bowen. Gene: "I heard that Kendra got turned down by several other companies so she wasn’t the hot property she thought she was… Sure, she’s distraught now and lashing out. Understand, everything was in his name. That was his property. Logic dictates that if you are no longer under contract with somebody, that is no longer your property. Apparently, she wasn’t keeping her end of the bargain. She hoped to skip out on her rent." Luke: "Why did Bill Caits leave AVN?" Gene: "Bill is a very knowledgeable man about the industry but his reviews… We had problems time and again. He had a whole different assessment system from the AVN norm. We try to have a unified voice here. You should be able to take a video and give it to four different people and you should have no more of a differential than half a review point. One guy might see it as a 3, another as a 3.5." Luke: "What’s the scoop with the Elegant Angel lawsuit that you guys are supposedly covering up?" Gene: "Well, I’m in Patrick Collins’ back pocket. I go to Elegant Angel on Thursdays. I can’t make all the rounds on one day… I’m sorry I can’t give you more scandal… You keep repeating the same damn shit. "There is so much creative energy in this business. If people used it to run their businesses and make good product rather than stabbing each other in the back and making these wild-ass accusations, we’d be better off." 2/2/99 Rodney Moore writes: "I
am very proud and pleased to announce that for the third year in a row,
I've been voted the Hottest Director by the People's Choice Adult Awards
at www.cavr.com (Cyberspace Adult Video Reviews). Blake Leigh (whom Luke incorrectly identified initially as Heaven Leigh): "I have to write to you and back up my friend Rodney. Heaven Leigh was number three on the vote on www.cavr.com and AVN people over looked her also. The "FANS" pay are bills not a few hands at AVN. I think its time that the awards should be voted by the "FANS", and the winners should be from that vote not from who kisses the most ass!!!!!! Lets see new starlet of the year nominee Stryc9... Please the women had 20 scenes all together and few of them was bad!!!! There was a few others in that list that didn't deserve to be there. "Lets all face the truth here, its not about how good one is its how good you kiss ass and suck dick period!!!!!!!!!!! Heaven's position on this is this: it's [AVN] an award for best dick sucking, something she will not show her grand children when she is old and out of porn, but its nice to have that one moment where you do get recognised for a good job.So maybe a small web site in the midwest is not AVN, but Paul, without that small web site and the "FANS" where would you be!!!!!!!!!! "Oh here is a good one. Heaven called AVN and asked for the talent copy of AVN and they said Heaven was not talent and they never heard of her, SO Paul have your staff go to www.cavr.com and have a look and go to www.rogreviews.com and see that she finished in the top ten in that poll for someone that is not talant she sure has a great following!!!!!!So what does this tell us boys and girls, the fix is on at AVN!!!!!" AVN publisher Paul Fishbein replies: "I don't know Heaven Leigh
but I know who she is. If I've ever met her, I don't recall but I meet
a lot of people. First of all, all talent gets a free subscription to
AVN if they ask, so either she asked the wrong person or didn't call.
If she called, maybe the subscription person didn't know who she was,
but the editorial staff does. So if she calls, e-mails or faxes, of course,
she can have a free subscription. Rodney Moore responds to Pope Paul: "First, I have never made any
personal comments about Paul Fishbein. I am very grateful for a lot of
help he gave me early on in my career. I have always like Paul. But why
is he confusing me with some European porn actor? I certainly hope that
was a typing error, because if not, then he is guilty of one of the biggest
sins against industry people that you, Luke, have been accused of, and
he, as publisher of the industry bible and one who should set an example,
should definitely know better. Fishbein replies: "Rodney Moore is right. I was confusing him with
a European actor. Tell Rodney that we have a bunch a new reviewers so
when he sends in his screeners, have him request new revieweres who might
not have seen his stuff. You know, a fresh perspective." Paul Fishbein replies: "Who on our staff said you were not talent?
Who? Name names. I see your name on credits of movies so obviously, you
are talent. Who is giving you the so-called bs. Heaven Leigh: "On the postings last night no one said you was getting the BJs just someone was over at AVN and you can not set there and tell me you know what the staff is doing 24/7.As for the talent copy,I called three months ago gave them my home phone number and my mailing address,they said they would have to check it out and get back with me.Ok I understand that so two months passed by and no AVN so I called and YOUR STAFF SAID"SORRY NO ONE HERE KNOWS YOU AND NEVER HEARD OF YOU"so PAUL maybe that is why as you put it"have I done anything this year that was eligible to be nominated"because no one knows who I am. Funny I have done over 70 movies and my box cover for Dark Secrets was on the third page of one of AVN issues.So if AVN is so fair on how they pick the girls then the staff should know all the girls to be fair.Or maybe it comes to PAID ADVERTISMENT,face it Paul half of the girls was contract girls and contract girls mean companies and companies mean money for AVN.Five of the girls out of what 8:Alisha Klass:Seymore Butts,Jessica Darlin and Stryc9:Extreme,Dee and Shelby Myne:AGV,maybe the dick sucking was out of line but ass kissing and money is not.Three of them paid there dues and have done something's to be where they are Alisha,Jessica and Shelby the others was there because of the money spent to AVN.Stryc9 and Dee and the others did what to get eligible as you put it?Lets see Stryc9 was in the business a whole six months and had a whole 20 scenes or less hmmmm...... I could careless about award for best dick sucking,but I do want someone over at AVN to tell me that they are sorry for the slap in the face,I worked f---ING to hard to get where I am to have someone tell me I am not talent or calling me a loser!!!!! My opinion means nothing to you if it was not for the women in porn you would not have this job at AVN!!!!!!!One last thing if no one at AVN knows me then how do you know if I was eligible or not?So if the staff looked at all the tapes then they had to see me with Cherry(aka Stryc9) or Shelbee Myne we did a ton of movies together.I am not trying to get into a war but I am not going to stand by and let anybody slap me in the face!!!!!!!!!" Porn lobbyist Mike Ross says:
"Thanks for making my point very clear... no one knows why I was
let go.... the charge was a crock and "charges" were never presented
to me so that I may defend myself. FSC Insurance Coordinator Greg Zeboray of www.zeboray.com writes: "Paul Fishbein is a good man who does not deserve all this bullshit. I'm really amazed that members of the talent pool are so willing to take shots at someone who has done so much for them. In regards to the awards, I personally know one of the people who voted, and I can tell you there is NO fix. He went through a long process of reviewing and making notes, like any judge would, and no, he is not associated with AVN or Fishbein in any manner." |