Rob Black 10/27/98

Rob Black Profile Rob Black Scandals Interview 10/27/98 Interview 11/3/98 More Rob Black More Rob Black

Mark Kulkis has left Extreme Associates to distribute videos for Hustler. Is this a sign that Extreme is in financial trouble (paying for all those AVN ads and contract players)?

I heard that Rob Black's dad and Rob's uncle Chuck Zane, with perhaps some help from North Eastern money, is floating the controversial company.

Rob Black called Luke Tuesday evening to tell me I'm full of it. Rob says Extreme sells their videos for no less than $13 each, and won't even deal with many distributors (including all of the General Video distributors except GVA West and GVA Chicago aka Capital News).

Rob hates his Uncle Chuck Zane, and it was questioning that hatred that riled up Black enough to call me.

Rob: "That information [that Extreme is in financial trouble] is preposterously outrageous. Did anyone credible tell you that aside from Rob Spallone? [Three porners told me that.]

"Mark Kulkis does not have a writing job at Hustler [as Luke originally reported]. Mark Kulkis will head up their video production line. A group of people wanted to deal with me. I did not want to do the deal. They knew Mark. Mark talked to them with my blessing. Mark encouraged them to talk to Hustler. They said we don't distribute. Mark said, 'I know what to do. I could do a video line and run it for you.' They made him a deal to run their production line. 'And if all goes good, you can distribute your f---ing foot line through Hustler.' So Mark came to me and told me that he was talking with them. I said, 'Mark, God bless you. Hustler can move more pieces than me, Evil Angel, Annabolic together. It's a good deal for him.

"We have millions of movies going on. I don't sell to certain distributors because I won't lower my price from $13. No one gets that [good of a] price. Not the Spallones, Gourmets, Heat Wave… For me to do that, I must be doing ok, because I have 800 pieces that I am not selling. You never hear me whoring out my product like you hear about everyone else.

"I don't know where you've been Luke, but I hate my uncle [Chuck Zane]. I hate that cock sucker. He's a piece of s---. That's what got me more pissed off [about what Luke wrote] than anything. You said that my uncle gave me money to form my company. This motherf---er tried to rip me off.

"I do blue shelves [blue silk-screened video cassettes to protect them from privacy]. There is no label. Evil Angel and Elegant Angel have red. I went with Blue because our prices are higher and our logo is blue. Now Uncle is going to blue shelves."

Luke: "Aren't you flattered?"

Rob: "Totally flattered. He sells his product for $10. He's called all his distributors that if they're giving me $13 [per tape], they can at least give him $12.

"Luke, you're welcome to come down and look at my books. You'll see that I have more than enough money in my account and sell more than enough pieces… I sell more pieces than VCA. Russ Hampshire will say that. I sell about 3000 pieces per video.

"We're suing Russ… That motherf---er ripped off my logo. Look in the AVN [11/98] for the ad for VCA Extreme.

"When you look at my books, you'll see that we have thousands of dollars in our accounts. You'll see our receivables. I'll give you distributor numbers for you to call to see how many pieces they take and at what price. I don't bulls--- and I don't buy. I am the most honest motherf---er in this business. I tell it the way it is.

"Stevie Hirsch put out an AVN ad called "Attack of the 50-foot Tranny," by a new line called Vivid Extreme. I got my high priced Beverly Hills lawyers to call his lawyers, Paul Cambria, Mr. Big Shot in Buffalo, and guess what? I've got a new flyer in front of me of the same thing and now it is called Vivid Raw. And the same thing is going to happen to Russell. You can't steal my logo. I've been doing business as Extreme Associates, Extreme Video and Extreme Entertainment since 1995. I had it trademarked and copyrighted.

"Pinkowski at Ultimate Video tried to do the same thing with "Extreme Entertainment." They got a Cease and Desist order. I don't know what they're going to do?

"I don't sell to GVA Cleveland, GVA Maryland or to Legend or Pipeline or Factory Home Video. They don't pay. The GVA want to dick me around. But I won't sell my product for less than $13. I can get a Gourmet video for $8. I've cut off five of the biggest distributors in our business and I still sell 3000 pieces out the door."

Luke: "Were you morally moved by Chuck Zane's guest editorial in the November AVN promoting the use of condoms?"

Rob: "He talks about becoming a grandfather. This is the same person responsible for the government coming out with its latest Child Pornography Act because of Cherry Poppers. He and Max Hardcore made videos that promoted under age girls. He wanted to do another young girls line… He's rereleasing all the old Cherry Popper videos with Max Hardcore because in some back-ass state they beat that Child Pornography law. You can now buy Cherry Poppers #2, with no condoms and portraying 14-year old girls.

"So you tell me what is morally right and wrong? Me having two consenting adults Tom Byron and Jasmine St. Clair in a 'rape' scene but him portraying a girl to be 14 sucking on a lollipop and saying 'f--- me harder, daddy?'

"Everybody at Extreme takes DNA tests every two weeks.

"Jasmine is dressed up like Jesus with a crown of thorns for a new movie Acid Sex."

Luke: "What did you think about Paul Fishbein's editorial [in the 11/98 AVN]? He finds your ad campaign [no rubbers] in poor taste?"

Rob: "I respect Paul more than anyone else in the business. He has a right to his own opinion. Paul is not a manufacturer. Paul is a publisher. He takes my ads and publishes them. He believes in free speech. He'll be the first to admit that he doesn't like the type of s--- that I do. He likes Tommy's stuff and Van [Damage] stuff. But AVN still gives me awards. I got six this year.

"My uncle [Chuck Zane] takes German Cherry Poppers. They're made in Germany without rubbers. VCA uses the Ben Dover series which does not usually use rubbers. Is it ok for these guys to buy overseas lines without rubbers?"

Luke: "What's the scoop with Sunshine? Was she really 17 years old?"

Rob: "I don't know. I have all the IDs. But there's a discrepancy between what the girl's ID says and what her sister says. I don't know if one of our competitors is trying to f--- with us. But to be safe, we pulled it and redid it. But I'd rather do that and be a hot shot and challenge everybody.

"Sunshine came to us. Van and Tiffany Mynx met her and her sister at the City of Industry. She was dancing at the Spearmint Rhino in the City of Industry. At a 21 [years] and over club where they serve booze. She got AIDS tests and a tit job, so she must've fooled the doctors about being under age? She must've fooled the club owner? She must've fooled five different people before she came to us. So I don't think she is underage. I think it is someone f---ing with us."

Luke: "When you were together with Tricia Devereaux [1996-97], I heard that you did not want her performing [in porn]?"

Rob: "Not entirely true. I directed her in four videos where she was getting DP'd and everything. She did War Whores, Cellar Dwellers… She wanted to get married and have a kid. So I said, 'if this is what you want to do, I don't want you f---ing in the business. I know kids and I know life. Kids would say, 'yeah man, we're jerking off to your mom.'

"I've had a porn chick come to our office while her kids wait in the car. I think that is wrong. Keep kids away from this business.

"So we agreed on it… Then she went behind my back to do a movie. Then she cheated on me with my best friend (Andy). And that's when I threw her out.

"Tricia never did drugs when she was with me. All I've ever done is smoke weed. She would not even drink. She was straight.

"I've been clean from marijuana and alcohol for three weeks. I used to socially drink but I want to get back in shape. I've gotten heavy living the good life. I've gained thirty pounds. We go to dinners. Byron and I drives Mercedes. Van Damage is in a brand new apartment. And you'll never find my product going out the door for less than $13.

"When people are in financial trouble, they whore their product. They backdoor it for $10. You will never find a soul who got my product for less than $13.

"Steve Hirsch does business with a couple of small mainstream chains who carry some adult product. Not Goalie, they're an adult bookstore. What Stevie and Russell have done is to get in with them [small mainstream chains like Video Time] because ma and pop video stores need safe product. So they [Vivid and VCA] tell these stores 'you have to get all your adult product from us.'

"But these people get AVN. So they call up Stevie and say, 'we need 20 pieces of the new Max Hardcore. Fifty pieces of that.' They don't take all of them. They won't take a Rob Black video like A Week In The Life of a Prostitute where I have a picture of a black guy eating watermelons on the cover. They take all the Byron movies, all that s--- from Elegant Angel, they take for $10 each. Ten dollars for Sodomania, Patrick Collins' greatest series. $10. So Stevie goes to these people like Legend and Elegant Angel… 'we've got a store that wants 50 pieces of your title. But if you don't sell it through us, you can't sell it to them because they have a deal with us. So you'll make $10 and we'll make $3 and you'll get your pieces into a store that you normally wouldn't get.

"About four weeks ago, Stevie Hirsch, who criticizes my product for being this and that, he has his sales guy Howard Levine call me: 'Hey Rob, I've got a great deal for you.' I said: 'Wait a minute Howard, I've got the deal. You want to buy 100-150 pieces of my stuff for $10 and you're going to sell it to a chain store (mainstream ones with adult sections) who are not going to buy it from me because they only have a deal with you. If I do not do the deal, I don't move the pieces…' And he said: 'Well, yeah. Kind of the way it goes, but I could probably give you $11 [each].'

"I said: 'No way Howard. Your boss criticizes me for not using rubbers and for that racial scene in Cellar Dwellers because I do that racial scene with Mila in the Klan hat. But guess what titles they wanted? They wanted Tom Byron's Whack Attack and my Cellar Dwellers. So Stevie Hirsch wants to pay me $10 for a movie that he's gone on record saying that it is morally offensive and racially offensive so that he could sell it for $13 and make $3 profit off my s---. So tell me about the hypocrisy in this business with these scum bags."

Luke: "Why would people bother selling 100 pieces like that?"

Rob: "Because they're the ones who need the money. When you have to sell your product for $10, that means you are in financial trouble. Luke, I turn away sales because I will not lower my price. You will never hear of me selling for less than $13.

"My best friend Dave Pentycofe, who worked with me at my dad's bookstore in Rochester, came out here a few years ago and became the shippper at Elegant Angel. When Extreme began, Tommy and I did our own shipping. Dave stayed with Elegant. But Dave and I still hung out. And Dave took me to the third game of the World Series. So Pat Collins fired him. Wouldn't do it to his face. Had someone drive Dave home and tell him, 'you're fired because you took Rob to a ballgame and Rob is the enemy.'"

Rob Black leaves for GVA West's open house in San Francisco this week starting Wednesday night.

"I only deal with GVA West (800-748-6366) and GVA Chicago (Capital News at 800-621-7044). Our other friend on the West Coast is New Beginnings (818-837-7722). Lenny [Friedlander] is a great guy. They take our stuff and move the f--- out of it. They don't break my balls. They pay my price. Evil Angel is their number one company and I am number six."

Another porner writes to me: "You don't believe that BS from Rob Black do ya? His dad is floating that Co. all the way and daddy and uncle Chuck have made up...Tommy has even done work for Zane. Rob couldn't even finance a f---ing car when he was at Elegant how the f--- is he gonna finance Extreme and why do you think their release schedule is so far behind?"

This comment made Rob so mad that he called me Wednesday. "Everyone knows that I was poor… Everybody knows that my dad helps us. We do not hang out with my evil uncle. Tommy did that reverse gangbang for Zane when we had just left Elegant Angel. I had $30,000. Tommy had nothing. Van had $10,000. We needed the money so Tommy did the reverse gangbang for $5,000. That was it. Before you put that s--- up Luke, please talk to me because you get me distraught. Tommy [Byron] and I came back to the office at midnight to call you…"