It was not the same in Bogue Chitto. There, you'd see old girlfriends suddenly working for the Post Office.

Here it is not uncommon to see an ex show up in a porn movie. In fact, it's common - what else would they do without you?

But when you see the bedspread you had in college in a porn movie, well, that's when it's time for some hard reflection.



Previously: Ashlynn Goes to College; Alannah Starr will try anything once
See also: New Sensations, Steely Dan

Labels: missy stone, new porn daily, new sensations, personal philosophy

posted by Gram the Man at Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

With today's announcement that Magna Publishing, parent company of furtive, raincoat-wearing gentlemen's magazine Genesis, has purchased bestubbled, bathrobe-wearing gentlemen's magazine Gallery, media watchers are concerned that a large segment of print medium porn consumers will no longer be represented at the corner, cheap cigar-smelling news stand.

"This happened in 1994 when Sexonaut merged with Clam," said Columbia Journalism Review manging editor Darren Perch-Tounge, "and suddenly a whole generation of gentlemen who smelled like their dogs and day-old despair was voiceless.

"Notice the number agreement of 'generation' and 'was'," Perch-Tounge added. "That's the difference between us and the Middlesex Community College Journalism Review."

As in the world of mainstream media mergers and acquisitions, today's announcement by Magna Publishing, which also purchased the magazines and websites related to Fox and Lollypops, sent ripples of concern through populations fearing they will be underserved by the new monopoly.

"Mmmmm. Pussy," one vagrant said.

"The vagrant is right," Perch-Tounge agreed. "What does a celebrity publisher like Tera Patrick (Genesis) or Stormy Daniels (Velvet) know about the needs of the average Gallery reader who just wants to masturbate to pictures of Oklahoma housewives?"

Perch-Tounge noted that the decline of the DVD and the increase in oil prices are only going to make mergers more common in the coming months.

"You need trucks to drive those magazines to the nation's 7-11s and Store 24s," he said. "And when Rupert Murdoch buys AVN and XBiz next week, there goes the audience for interpretive DVD sales charts."

Previously: Report: Stormy Daniels appears on magazine cover; Tera Patrick: The new black
See also: Genesis Online, The Gallery of Forgotten Girlie Magazines

Labels: "stormy daniels", business, genesis, hype, jenna jameson, tera patrick, trademags

posted by Gram the Man at Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

The accepted way for your hi-larious officemate to make fun of a porn movie is to add a ridiculously high number to a wacky title that probably already exists.

"My neighbor's wife should be in My Hot Wife Is Fucking Blackzilla 48," he'll say. You will then check your watch and accurately predict that Blackzilla will work his way up to that number sometime in August.

But now and then a title that is too weird to be fake will show up, and we look around for telltale signs of the Apocalypse: not wishing Clinton was back in office, etc.

The porn industry, as anyone working within it will tell you, does a remarkable job of self-policing. Not only are there mandatory HIV tests, the results of which are available to anyone on set, but also the redundant forms of identity documentation required for 2257 compliance.

Why, then, does no one ever ask a performer in a MILF movie Have you ever given birth to a child?

The last straw came today when a copy of Transsexual MILFS 3 arrived. What they mean to say is Old Trannies, but instead they have sullied the sacred role of porn motherhood by populating a movie teeming with elderly transgendered Brazilian men and calling it a MILF movie.

Now if these men had fathered children at one point, they could have the -ILF ending but a new first letter would have to be applied.

I spoke with Loup Perch-Tounge, chairman of the International Porn Standards Office based in Van Nuys.

"I can assure you that none of these women packs her kids off to school with a nice, hot lunch," he said.



Previously: Gram Ponante launches International MILF Registry
See also: Juicy Entertainment

Labels: loup, MILF, new porn daily, the horror, transsexual

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 4 Comments Links to this post

Prior to steady employment as America's Beloved Porn Journalist I parlayed my state-issued Commercial Driver License into a gig driving escorts to appointments.

When driving a pro it was as solid a job as working at General Electric; when the escort didn't take her job seriously it was like herding cats. Cats who lie to you and have gonorrhea.

"The Delivery Man," the debut novel of Joe McGinniss, Jr. (his father wrote "The Selling of the President 1968" and the Ted Kennedy biography "The Last Brother," among other books), tells the story of Chase, a half-hearted artist who takes a driving job for a Las Vegas escort agency.

Like any resort town, the desperate side of Las Vegas is never too far away. And that might be its appeal. "The Delivery Man" paints a picture of Chase, the artist, and Las Vegas, his home, in equally somber tones, but no less rich. Read it before your next trip to Vegas.

I talked with McGinniss recently.

GP: Most novels containing world-weariness usually feature older characters. What compelled you to write about younger natives?

JMcG: This is as much a story about the hypersexualization of young people and the rise of sex in popular culture - as it is a Vegas story. Young people had to be front and center of "The Delivery Man" because they reflect society and social mores so clearly. And the combination of young people and Las Vegas was irresistible given the fantastic glittery void and raison d'être of the city. What do the kids who grow up in the spillover from the Strip aspire to? How does living in ground zero of social and moral dysfunction - complete with adult industry annual awards shows and Latino immigrants handing out call-girl flyers offering 'girls in 20 minutes or less' t-shirts - impact kids as they come of age? So this is why I had to focus on the younger natives of Las Vegas.

GP: Like Los Angeles, the accepted wisdom about Las Vegas is its artlessness. Chase's pursuit of an art career is one of the many ominous elements of the novel, because a reader has a good idea it won't go well. Where did his half-hearted profession come from?

JMcG: There are some wonderful artists in Vegas. And some impressive efforts to develop an art community. But yes, there's a mountain of angst in that place and so few places to put it. So what better then to have Chase channel his personal pain into his art. His favorite painting 'Carly' possesses obvious emotional power for him. But like too many "victims" of a Las Vegas upbringing - Chase never quite gets his ambitions off the ground. He has a sense of what he wants, and even a track record of achieving something (gaining admission to NYU, nominated for Teacher of the Year), but like so many in his hometown, he's afflicted by a paralyzing lack of self-esteem that manifests itself in his half-hearted pursuit of an art career.

GP: Lack of self esteem leads to half-heartedness? Don't tell the porn industry.

I was happy to see via a trip through your site that there is a screenplay in progress, because Las Vegas needs the treatment Michael Mann gave to L.A. and Scorsese gave to New York and Boston. Who do you see playing the main characters?

JMcG: I'm officially an "associate producer" on this project therefore I'm under contractual obligation not to mention specific names of potential directors and talent. I take this job and that title very seriously so I'm afraid I can't offer anything. Kidding. I really haven't given it too much thought but have recently become fixated on a few excellent young actresses out there. I see Lauren London as Julia and Nikki Reed as Michele. Both of them are talented and stunning and have this intangible quality -- a certain sultriness -- that I think would really fit with a film version of this novel. There's no question that the film will give young actors an incredible opportunity to completely bust out with something so edgy and fast and tough. Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) or Paul Thomas Anderson could direct. Are they available?

GP: I'll see what I can do. Issues I have with the book (feel free to become enraged; it is your birthright as a writer):

The character Julia arrives for a conference in the middle of the year as an adult convention and awards show is going on, porn stars abound at the Hard Rock. Which convention would this be? The AVNs are in January and I can't think of another Vegas awards show.

JMcG: Two words: artistic license. And the National Black MBA isn't in the Spring -- it's held each fall as I am well aware because my wife went to that for many years during and just after she graduated "b'school" as they call it (with some of her stories making it into "TDM"). But that timing didn't work for the book. As well, in fairness, I didn't name the AVN's -- just an unidentified adult film convention.

GP: AVN's PR firm will be stoked to read this. Who is the actual model for the cover girl?

JMcG: Isn't she amazing looking? Her name is Anna Seeberg. An aspiring model who lives with her family in Wisconsin. The picture was snapped by her younger sister -- 16 at the time -- in the backseat of their mother's car. The art director for Grove/Atlantic found the photo on Anna's MySpace page and worked something out with her parents (she wasn't 18 at the time) and we got the rights to her photo. Stunning picture. Urban Outfitters must like her look too because they're selling the book hard in all of their stores. As far as characters in the book -- I don't think she's supposed to be anyone in particular. It's more about the expression on her face, the red glasses, the light finding her hair the way it does, the lolita thing, the back-seat of a car. But if she has to be someone -- I say Aubrey -- from El Cajon -- who weighs 87 pounds and whose favorite food is an Egg McMuffin without the egg.



Previously: Christa Faust's "Money Shot"
See also: Joe McGinness Jr.

Labels: books, interviews, las vegas, prosties

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

With a title so fraught with porn's importance, I expected to not like this first-time effort by a New Sensations' director calling himself Visual Blurr.

But he clearly had been thinking about this movie for a long time, and had something to say. Some of his performers really oblige him, where others might just be working their shtick and cashing a check (which is their right, too). But you be the judge, because I've spent too much time talking about the space between us all.

Read the review here.

Previously: Life in a Porn Dorm Isn't All Pillowfights And Orgies
See also: New Sensations

Labels: adrianna nicole, bobbi starr, lorelei lee, madison young, new sensations, reviews, visual blurr

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Because The Whore Within Me was cast almost exclusively with women who belong to Spiegler Girls, the porn talent agency run by Mark Spiegler, I thought I'd reprint an article I wrote for The Naughty American, a webzine published by the studio Naughty America.

I spent an evening at the Spiegler Dorm with Spiegler, Annette Schwarz, and Adrianna Nicole. Sasha Grey dropped by briefly, too. Among Porn Valley agents, Spiegler is, in my experience, the most highly regarded by his talent and the companies who do business with him. He has also trained his cat to fetch.

this article originally appeared in The Naughty American

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. -- It's 11 p.m. in the Woodland Hills section of Porn Valley, the part of Los Angeles between the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Susana Mountains, where most of the world's commercial adult videos are shot.
Gram Ponante
Porn agent Mark Spiegler sometimes has as many as 7 celebrities staying in his 2-bedroom porn dorm at one time. It's a rough life.

The German performer Annette Schwarz, working here for the next three months, lazily pets the cat and falls asleep on the couch. She has to be up at 8 a.m. for a gang bang.

Mark Spiegler owns the couch, and his name is on the lease of the two-bedroom apartment (including one bedroom for Schwarz, if she'd just walk a few feet down the hall). Spiegler is one of a handful of booking agents for the porn industry, and he keeps a spare room available for non-locals like Schwarz and/or visiting San Franciscans like Bobbi Starr.

His agency is called Spiegler Girls, and his roster includes 20 of the porn industry's most recognized names. Besides Schwarz, whom studio Elegant Angel has honored with its "Slutwoman" series, there’s "The Internet's Girlfriend" Dana DeArmond, Showtime's "Family Business" star Flower Tucci, and post-noir pinup Adrianna Nicole.

"I get about 175 phone calls a day," says Spiegler, who runs Spiegler Girls via a Verizon smartphone from his apartment or his Cadillac Escalade, which is about as big. "I'm on the 6,000-minute plan. My bill is about $260 a month."

Earlier in the night, Schwarz and Nicole, two leggy blonde bombshells, link arms and follow the shorter, rounder Spiegler into Alessio's, a higher-end Italian restaurant in Northridge.

It's a slow night and, because of this and the fact that Schwarz and Nicole are unmistakably dressed as porn stars in their kneesocks and midriff-baring t-shirts, the small group gets a lot of attention.

"It's good to see you again," says the waiter, who later tells them he has appeared in a Honda commercial. "We've missed you."

Spiegler takes clients like Annette Schwarz and Adrianna Nicole out to dinner so they will have plenty of nourishment before filming, say, a gang bang.
The dinner is filled with gossip and shop talk. Both Schwarz and Nicole have been with the man they call "Spieg" for three out of the four years his company has been in existence, and they affectionately kid each other.

Schwarz was referred to Spiegler by European porn legend Rocco Siffredi.

"She sent me pictures of her with a knife in her pussy," Spiegler said. "I said, 'OK…'"

"I started doing porn three days after my 18th birthday," said Schwarz who turns 24 on March 26. "I didn’t know what to expect in America."

In 2006, Spiegler – whose family comes from Austria – met her at the airport and began speaking German to her.

"I didn't know what he was saying," Schwarz said. "And all the way to his place, I thought, 'Am I going to have to sleep with him every night?' I was biting my teeth together."

"Before I met him," she said, "I didn't know if part of my job would be having to sleep with him -- "

Spiegler interjects: " -- Oh, it only would have been two minutes out of your life/"

Schwarz continues: "And I asked [former Spiegler client] Katja Kassin about it my first night here, and she said 'No, it's not like in Europe.'"

Spiegler books his talent, picks them up from the airport and drives them to shoots if needed, takes up to 15 percent of their earnings, but never hits on them.

"It's bad business," he said.

Before dinner, Schwarz and Nicole retreated to Schwarz's room to check the latter's MySpace messages.

"Sometimes I'm so tired at the end of the day that all I can do is check my e-mail and fall asleep," Schwarz said.

While in the United States, she usually works six days a week.

"No working every day," she said. "If you're working all the time in porn, your immune system runs down."

After her stint in the U.S., Schwarz will return to her native Munich, where she will stay with friends or rent a "student flat" as her home base to shoot movies in Germany or other European porn capitals like Prague and Budapest. Then she will come back to the Spiegler dorm for another three months.

"I think I'm ready to buy a house in Germany," she said, looking around Spiegler's cluttered apartment, "because I am living like a student wherever I go."

Schwarz and Spiegler clashed when she first stayed with him in 2006.
Gram Ponante
Actresses like Schwarz and Nicole work hard during the day so their nights are spent checking their MySpace pages, not having orgies or pillow fights.

"There's a curfew rule," she said. "I didn't like that. I said, 'I am an adult and can do what I want!' But it was my first time in the United States and I wasn't thinking of it as work, which I do now."

"I have a few rules," Spiegler said. "Save your money, don't make me look bad, and don't give me anything to worry about."

Indeed, Spiegler Girls is well regarded around the porn industry as a dependable agency. There are few instances of Spiegler’s talent not showing up on a set and he boasts that his clients are drug- and alcohol-free while on location.

"It's not that I get them off drugs," he said. "They were never on them. The people who work for me are pretty smart."

Spiegler is a former day trader who got into the porn trade in the mid-1990s by financing movies. He produced and directed a few, and then started Spiegler Girls in 2004. He has had as many as seven performers staying with him at a time, but on average there are only two or three.

"Which is good," Spiegler said, "otherwise they start fighting for the bathroom."

It might be tempting to call Spiegler cuddly or avuncular, and he is, indeed, a very friendly, thoughtful person. Unlike certain competitors, Spiegler is not a performer and does not "audition" his talent. But more than many in the porn business, Spiegler knows where the bodies are buried.

His phone contains names, dates, pictures, videos, social security numbers, addresses, and, in a few cases, the next of kin of many of porn's shadier personalities, but the database in his head is a little more comprehensive.

"People know not to mess with me," he says.

After dinner, the waiter boxes a slab of chocolate cake that Spiegler will put in his refrigerator. Back at the apartment, Nicole and Schwarz watch as Spiegler's trained cat, Alaska, fetches a ball of tape.

Nicole settles into the pullout couch and frets about a scene she'll be shooting the next day.

"He better have baby-wiped his ass," she says to no one in particular.

For the 20 women on Spiegler's roster ("I don't represent guys because they're too needy," he said), each will receive a call or text message the day before a shoot with the location, company, director, partner(s) and service(s) required, which will also determine her take-home pay.

Gram Ponante
Spiegler's hard-fought reputation for fairness hasn't stopped former clients like Sasha Grey from going out on their own. In fact, the day after this photo was taken in the porn dorm, she announced she was starting her own agency.
Nicole said that lately these text messages on her iPhone don't excite her.

"I get excited when there's a brand new guy," she said.

Across the room, Schwarz nods. Spiegler throws a blanket over her 5 foot 8 inch frame.

Spiegler's is neither the largest nor the smallest of the porn booking agencies. Across the Valley, Derek Hay's LA Direct Models has two upscale houses for its visiting talent and lists more than 140 women and men as clients. Former performer Joel Lawrence's Goldstar Models has 80 women on its books. And more and more performers are choosing to represent themselves, such as Jenny Hendrix, who just left LA Direct Models, and former Spiegler client Sasha Grey.

Grey, who was named the Female Performer of the Year by the porn trade publication AVN, dropped by the Spiegler dorm the night of the dinner, and the next morning announced in AVN that she was starting her own agency to at first represent herself and then to take on a few more girls.

At a certain level of fame, female talent tends to transcend agencies.

"If I can book an anal scene for $4,000," Hendrix said when she left LA Direct, "I'm going to keep all of it."

"I've had about 100 girls come through here," Spiegler said prior to Grey's announcement. "And they work a lot, and they all make money. But sometimes they need to move on."

"But Spieg takes care of us," Nicole said.

Nicole hugs Schwarz and Spiegler and then heads home to Silver Lake, a neighborhood of Los Angeles "over the hill." Schwarz gets up from the couch and shuffles down the hall to bed.

Wait a minute -- no orgies or pillow fights? No dancing naked on the bed and singing into hairbrushes? Schwarz laughs as if this has never occurred to her.

"I work too hard for that," she says.

In the morning, Spiegler will wake her up and drive her to the gang bang. He will save a little cake for her.

Previously: Goin' back to Calli; Adrianna Nicole and Annette Schwarz - just because
See also: Spiegler Girls, The Naughty American

Labels: adrianna nicole, annette schwarz, lorelei lee, sasha grey, spiegler

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, April 28, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

It is hard to tell where Casey Parker ends and Devon begins in this picture from Casey Parker's California Dreamin'.

According to the Axis II section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (revision IV), one of the trademarks of a Narcissistic Personality is the inability to tell where one's body ends and the rest of the world begins, resulting in a worldview that is "all about you."

But it kind of is all about Casey Parker.

Read the review here.

Previously: Devon can't take a bad picture; Casey Parker and California's pioneers
See also: DSM-IV, Shane's World

Labels: books, casey parker, devon, psychology, Shane's World

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, April 28, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

...if by "tears" you mean vagina and by "dries" you mean munches.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned this movie already, but I was cleaning up my desktop and this line occurred to me. You see, Kimberly Kane's character has just lost her husband, and Savanna Samson must comfort her in the only method available to her.

You'd do the same thing if your options were limited. In fact, I'd expect nothing less of you.

See the review of Miles from Needles here.

Previously: The tannens in Miss Samson
See also: Vivid

Labels: "kimberly kane", b skow, savanna samson

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, April 28, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Maybe Los Angeles is cold spiritually, but even at its coldest it is better than where you live. Still, as the scisssorlift propelled cast and crew of Hillary Scott: Icon upward to the roof of downtown L.A.'s Fallout Shelter, I was happy someone had loaned me a jacket.

It was just past midnight and there were twenty or so people on the roof. Icon is a high-end vignette movie and either all the camera and industrial equipment were stolen or this movie will cost about $100k to make.

"You pull Tori out of the mirror," Cross told Scott, SexZ Pictures' one remaining contract star after Paulina James had the gall to become pregnant, "and Tori, you make it look like it's an effort."

Tori Black didn't have to act. All four performers on the roof, Scott, Black, Jennifer Dark, and Morgan Layne, were dresssed in strips of high exposure leather slutwear, and their breath hung in the air. It was an effort to do most things, and I couldn't imagine how they would have sex later on the four-poster bed that sat inexplicably at the edge of the roof like the camp director's cot at the end of Meatballs.

Scott was charged with pulling these women through a mirror, like in that A Ha video, and then having sex with them, like in that Go Gos video that never happened. This would be one stylized scene out of five starring Scott, including a music video.

While it was cold on the roof and it was late, I still sensed that no one wanted the bed scene to happen because it would mean all the clothes would come off. When that time came, Scott was the first to remove everything. She is an American Hero.

In fact, each of the women acquitted herself nicely, and maybe they were able to derive warmth from fisting each other the way our forefathers did in pioneer days. No one complained, and I have seen people walk off the set for lesser inconveniences.

Maybe it was because they would have needed a crane to get down.

By the time the scene was finished around 2:30 a.m., we'd been buzzed by several helicopters in stealth mode, flying with lights off. There were at least eight nipples that could have been seen from space at that point, too.

"They haven't invented the award you deserve for this yet," I said to Hillary Scott.

"Gram Ponante, you are truly America's Beloved Porn Journalist," she did not say.

See the gallery here.

Previously: Hillary Scott only in a Gramily way; Porn screenwriting: Money can buy a happy ending
See also: SexZ Pictures

Labels: "eli cross", "set visits", "sex z pictures", hillary scott, jennifer dark, morgan layne, tori black

posted by Gram the Man at Thursday, April 24, 2008 | 1 Comments Links to this post

Sitting side by side in orange jumpsuits at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse, Van Nuys, yesterday, Brian Barnes (aka Brian Surewood) and Armando Ayon listened to the testimony of six prosecution witnesses in their second degree murder trial for the car crash death of four-year-old Ayman Arif.

In addition to talking with various of Barnes' friends in putting together this story, I also consulted Mark Kernes' article in AVN and Rachel Uranga's in the L.A. Daily News.

On October 9, 2007, Barnes was driving along Sherman Way in Van Nuys, returning from filming a scene he'd performed in for the porn company Vouyer Media. At a stop light, sources close to Barnes say, he and Ayon began racing their cars when Ayon heckled Barnes, saying he looked like a pirate.

Barnes (seen behind the wheel of his Camaro in better times with his dog, Rex) allegedly responded that yes, he did look like a pirate.

The first witness was Syeda Arif, wheelchair-bound and speaking through an interpreter (she is a recent immigrant from Pakistan). Arif was standing by the trunk of her car and holding two-month-old daughter Ikra when, witnesses agree, Ayon's car slammed into the parked car behind her, which then struck Arif and sent her, her daughter, and Ayman, who had been standing nearby, onto the grassy area of Sherman Way abutting the sidewalk.

"She was very stoic through her testimony," said Barnes' friend, director David Aaron Clark. "Brian stared at her and started crying."

Ayman and his younger sister were airlifted from the area immediately, and the boy died the next day. His sister has been in and out of intensive care and now carries a shunt in her skull to drain fluid and relieve pressure. Their mother lost her left leg, among other injuries.

The main issue yesterday, the first of two Discovery days held to gather evidence, was not whether the men were racing each other (that was not disputed), or which driver directly caused the Arif family's injuries, but whether or not Barnes' driving caused Ayon to lose control of his vehicle.

Sherman Way west of Amestoy and east of Lucille is, as you can see from the picture above, a three-lane road. The lane closest to the sidewalk is also used as a parking lane in many areas, and this is where Syeda Arif was standing when the accident occurred, behind the second car in a row of three. The police report said that the collision knocked the last car into Arif's vehicle, which then hit the vehicle in front of it.

Peter Korn, Barnes' attorney, cross-examined LAPD traffic collision expert Detective Dagoberto Espino, who arrived on the scene 20 minutes after the accident.

Espino's report indicated that a skid mark on Sherman Way belonged to Barnes' Camaro, and inferred that Barnes' had cut off Ayon and slowed down just beyond north/south street Amestoy, thus forcing Ayon's Maxima into the lane of parked cars on the north side of the street.

Korn asked if the tire mark had been matched to Barnes' Camaro, but Espino said that it hadn't, that determining that was not part of his duties. Korn also asked Espino if he was aware that Barnes' Camaro had anti-lock brakes, thus making it difficult for that car to have caused a skid mark. Espino said he was not aware of that.

Among the other witnesses were a mother and son who had been driving near Barnes and Ayon, and Porter Miles, a man who talked with Barnes when the latter stopped his car farther down Sherman Way.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" Miles testified he told Barnes, who had stopped to call 911. Miles said that was all he said to Barnes before he, Miles, returned to the accident scene, where Ayon's Maxima was perched on the median of the east/west road, having crossed two lanes after striking the car behind the Arifs.

According to sources close to Barnes, Barnes said that Miles also told him to "get the fuck out of here." Clark said that that Miles appeared proud of the fact that he knew Ayon's car was "a 4.3" (liter) Maxima and that he was familiar with "high performance vehicles."

Miles testified that, from his rear-view mirror, he saw Barnes tap his brakes in front of Ayon's vehicle.

Barnes and Ayon are charged with the same things but Barnes has three additional charges of leaving the scene of an accident (one for each victim) because he returned to his Northridge apartment, where he saw the accident footage on the news. Barnes then turned himself in to police.

Eyewitness Roger Cook was passed by the two cars about two blocks before the collision site, and said at the time they were going about 55 miles an hour and "racing." He also said that Ayon, who sustained minor injuries in the crash, made a call on his cell phone, resulting in the arrival of various friends who removed things from Ayon's car. Cook did not testify what those items were.

Barnes and Ayon are being held in protective custody at the Men's Wing of the L.A. County Jail in downtown Los Angeles.. Two additional witnesses, Armenian Americans excused to take part in events commemorating the 1915 Armenian genocide, will testify when the case resumes on May 14.

Ayman Arif had recently entered first grade at Northridge's Lorne Elementary School, which will plant a tree in his memory tomorrow (April 25) at 8:30 a.m.

UPDATE: I visited the accident scene and Ayman Arif's school less than a mile away. Arif's tree is planted in a quiet garden away from the recess yard.

Previously: Surewood pleads not guilty as murder case continues
See also: Ayman Foundation

Labels: brian surewood, legal, news

posted by Gram the Man at Thursday, April 24, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

In addition to my starring role in The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift, my nuanced and intense performance as an outraged porn critic (alongside Roger Pipe) in the reissued Jack's Playground 27 is one of the highlights of the new format.

While Digital Playground refuses to bundle the title with a Blu-ray-capable Playstation 3, you can thrill to the fact that the movie is a piece of history, as most of the cast of this 2005 movie isn't even in porn anymore.



Previously: If it's your first time, you have to have sex
See also: Digital Playground

Labels: Digital Playground, personal appearances

posted by Gram the Man at Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Not the Bradys XXX 2 might be the last adult movie filmed in Hustler's warehouse and studio in Canoga Park, a building used for office space and filming for the past 15 years, and which had an in-house stage crew that built sets for dozens of Barely Legals, Hustler cover shoots, and hundreds of movies.

Larry Flynt Publications, parent of Hustler, made the decision to sell the property late last year. Prior to this, when Vivid shifted its distribution from Hustler to Pulse (freeing up warehouse space), and when the few remaining sales staff and office workers were relocated to the LFP "dark tower" over the hill in Los Angeles, the 20,000 sq. ft. facility was still being used as a distribution warehouse and production center.

Now the Osborne Street building on the market for $3.8 million. Built in 1979, LFP purchased the building in December, 1993, well in advance of the DVD era. When LFP bought Russ Hampshire's VCA Pictures a decade later, it assumed some of its staff and all of its catalogue. At that time, Hustler and VCA's warehouse was still chock full of bulkier VHS boxes.

According to L.A. County records, LFP made about $700,000 worth of improvements to the building, and the structure and lot it stands on have been assessed at nearly $1.8 million.

Since LFP's decision to sell the building, however, both California's commercial and residential real estate markets have slid, and the building stands unused most of the time.

Kenny DeMartines, who has been Hustler's set designer for 25 years (and who supplied several of the pictures in this story) has spent the last few months as part of a two-person cleanup crew, getting the building ready for its eventual sale. But when producer Jefff Mullen was looking for a place to film the sequel to last year's Not the Bradys XXX, most of which had been shot in the same location, DeMartines rebuilt the set and added some flourishes.

"They weren't using the building," Mullen said. "That's a lot of money they're spending in other locations that they could save."

Clearly LFP believed the building would sell a lot sooner and that it would no longer have to pay the maintenance fees on such a large property. Vivid, Digital Playground, Red Light District, Wicked, and Adam & Eve rarely shoot movies or scenes on their own properties, instead choosing to rent space across Porn Valley and Los Angeles like their smaller competitors. Only Hustler had an in-house location and set builder.

The Not the Bradys XXX 2 shoot contained several DeMartines sets, including the (Not the) Bradys' back yard and several bedrooms. Once the building is cleaned out, DeMartines will be out of a job.

"I have worked with a Who’s Who of adult directors from (late Barely Legal director) Clive McLean to Jerry T (Jerome Tanner), and even Ron Sullivan (aka Henri Pachard), John Bowen (aka John T Bone), and Greg Dark back in the old days of the 1980s," DeMartines said. "I make things look the way people want them to look."

For those of you with an extra $3.8 million (sources say the price might come down), the building boasts the following amenities:

Racked warehouse space, ceiling heights between 13' and 17', 800 amp, 3 phase 4 wire delta power and 120/240 volt circuit, controlled parking area, fenced, three 13' roll-up doors, woodshop and painting area with ventilation, five restrooms, washer/dryer hookups, carpeted and sunny reception area and several offices set offf from studio, woodshop, and warehouse spaces.

"In a time when everyone is under increasing budgetary constraints, we were actually able to save a lot of money over the years," said DeMartines, "because we had a lot of our own materials already in stock that other companies would need to go out and buy each time they shot."

On the set of Not the Bradys XXX 2, veteran performer Mike Horner (he shot his first adult movie in January, 1978), who plays Mike (Not the) Brady, said that the Old Ways Are Changing.

"I got into the business with Ron Jeremy, John Leslie, and Jamie Gillis," he said. "Back when L.A. would be hot for a time and then the police would crack down and we had to go back up to San Francisco. When the state told the L.A. police that breaking up porn sets was infringing on free speech (1993), that's when the Valley became the porn capital."

And that was the year LFP bought the warehouse.

Mullen (using the directing alias Will Ryder) posed with Kasey Jordan (Cindi), Aurora Snow (Jan), Teragan Presley (Marcia) and Alana Evans (Carol) holding a copy of adult trade publication AVN. Its cover story was an advertiser-soothing "Big Budget Is Back." Mullen wanted to recreate the shot with a copy of rival adult publication XBiz, but there wasn't one available.

In an article in adult retailer trade publication Adult Store Buyer, Vivid co-founder Steve Hirsch acknowledged the precipitous decline of the physical movie. "(In 1984), 95 percent of our sales came from VHS tapes," he said. Vivid celebrates its 25th anniversary next year. "Last year, less than 30 percent of our sales came from DVDs."

While many companies make big budget movies (the just-wrapped Pirates 2 cost more than $1 million and standard features like Adam & Eve's Rollerdollz and Dark City had budgets of $75k to $100k), most major studio porn is produced for $30k for glossier vignette films or five or six scene gonzo movies, in which several or all of the scenes can be shot in one day in several rooms of a Porn Valley McMansion rented for about $1200.

The impending closure of the Hustler studio says only that the the company has made a decision to adapt to the market; an increasingly Internet-driven industry needs fewer people to keep it alive, and less space.

That doesn't mean the DVD or the feature is going away tomorrow, but the demand is shrinking. People with staying power have to make do with less. Contrary to the AVN article, demand for big budget features has also contracted, even though a well-made high budget porn spectacle still has the novelty to draw consumers.

In addition to Horner, the multigenerational Not the Bradys XXX 2 features veteran performer Lynn LeMay (first adult movie: 1988) as well as Aurora Snow and Teagan Presley, who have bucked traditional porn career expectations by staying active in the business for seven and four years, respectively.

On the set, Horner talked about how he has personally adapted.

"When I started I was a college student," Mike Horner said. "Now I'm the one playing the Dad roles. Luckily there's Dad roles ... "

See the gallery here.

Previously: This is how porn guys live; Not the Bradys XXX review
See also: Hustler

Labels: below the line, business, hustler, jeff mullen, kenny demartines

posted by Gram the Man at Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Tentacular Canadian Mandy Morbid (TCMM) is visited by the chief of The Old Ones in a new video on her site, shot like it's Abraham Zapruder's student film from Miskatonic University.

"It's more hot than gross," claims director Zak Sabbath, but you be the judge. The tentacles were upholstered with a series of black condoms and their issue, Sabbath said, "is a proprietray substance."

Morbid needn't feel ashamed about the attack. It's not like she was asking for it, even sleeping in the provocative way she was; when the tentacles come, there is nothing you can do.

Previously: Young Hollywood and the birth of the United States
See also: Mandy Morbid

Labels: canadian, geekery, lovecraft, mandy morbid, tentacles, zak sabbath

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 1 Comments Links to this post

Sasha Grey talks about Colecovision like it's porn but otherwise doesn't talk about porn at all in a refreshing article in the Gamers' magazine Giant Realm.

"It would be pretty dope to be a Tomb Raider, or Resident Evil type-character. Fuck it, let's go all the way: why not put me in the Grand Theft Auto universe somewhere? But I'd have to be able to kick some ass...strapped with two MP5K's and a black and grey skintight outfit," Grey says.

Grey is also featured in a wholesome video by The Roots, "Birthday Girl," in which her facial expressions say everything.

Previously: Something is about to happen to Sasha Grey
See also: Sasha Grey Talks Games, The Roots' "Birthday Girl"

Labels: geekery, sasha grey

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 1 Comments Links to this post

It's one thing that adult-oriented Internet TV station RudeTV has taken a good deal of the staff of the former KSEXRadio, but it must seem a little on the nose that the new station has moved into KSEX' old studio.

KSEXRadio was a beloved old garage band of a business that was characteristic of the porn industry; often disorganized, brutal on its enemies, forgiving of its friends, and a wealth of information about the porn industry from people getting paid about 20 bucks an hour to run their shows.

Nestled for years on the top floor of a nondescript Burbank office building, KSEX was purchased in 2006 and revamped, somewhat, with big plans to move the company closer to the heart of Porn Valley. This eventually happened in May when the company moved its offices to Canoga Park.

Not everyone made the move, however. KSEX program director Wankus, who had been feuding with the ownership, was publicly fired earlier that month. This news was broken when one of the owners called in to a KSEX show and declared Wankus' termination over the air. Bad blood ensued.

But KSEX took six more months to die. Though some "Porn Jockeys" resigned in protest of the manner of Wankus' dismissal, others began to see the writing on the wall. The company was being managed from New Jersey and things were falling apart. KSEX struggled to keep talent and original programming, advertisers began dropping out, and eventually the remaining staff was asked to go without pay and do the job for the "exposure."

KSEX finally died in late January of this year.

Meanwhile, Rude.com, an Internet entertainment site launched by the founders of webcam pioneer Camz.com, heard that there was some studio space available, and called Wankus to be its program director and main host, as he had been at KSEX.

"They flew me to Bangkok for the job interview," Wankus said.

Rude.com wanted to expand its market to adult television, and threw tens of thousands of dollars into outfitting the space KSEX had occupied as a TV studio. RudeTV boasts two studios with greenscreens separated by a control booth (in which Powder and Socks, both late of KSEXRadio, dwell), a reception area, a ready room for talent, and a large room outfitted with a stripper pole.

But can an adult Internet broadcast site be self-sustaining? KSEX never was, and its short-lived competitor PrimeTime Uncensored also failed. But Rude has a little money behind it, and it is being run by people familiar with the adult industry.

Rude.com co-owner Brett LaMar told me he will be 32 in a week. He and his wife, Sammy (of Samm4u.com) live in Thailand, as does Rude.com's other co-founder, Robb. Active swingers, LaMar and his wife also started housecamz.com.

"We knew that the KSEX space was going to be available," LaMar said, "and Rude.com was getting ready to make its move to Internet TV."

Rude.com has come under attack by adult industry webmasters for hosting stolen content and employing traffic hijacker/adware giant zango (see sample thread). The adult industry will forgive most things, but stealing content is never one of them. I am assured everything is now copacetic and attributable.

But after the unpleasantness with KSEX, Wankus is hopeful about his new bosses.

"They're putting a lot of time and money into this place to do it the way it should be done," he said.



Last night's opening party was well-attended and, despite the fact that the station went live at 6 p.m. with a show called "Guitarded," in which two pornstars play strip-"Guitar Hero," the mood was laid back. There was also a Make Your Own Drinks open bar, which also helped.

Powder told me that there had been a couple of test runs of the new studios and shows, and that he was expecting the evening to be tough but successful. As it happened, the night went off without a hitch, though sometimes callers weren't loud enough and the various greenscreen motifs were a little busy.

Mika Tan who, after a family-related hiatus ("No, I wasn't in Afghanistan with the Army or in Iraq with the CIA," she said. I hadn't heard the story about the CIA), has returned to performing, last night hosted "Whispers," an occasional Mika hour in which she uses dildos for callers' enjoyment.

RudeTV schedules 20 hours of original programming, broadcasting from 6-10 weekday nights. Currently free, it will soon switch to a subscription model with various free incentives, and will begin archiving its shows for On-Demand access.

Among its shows are "Guitarded," "Smell My Finger" (also hosted by Wankus with a different co-host every night, such as Sunny Lane, Kylee King, and Cleopatra of the Nile), "Penis or Plastic?" hosted by Alanna Thomas remotely from Gilbert, AZ, BDSM-themed "Baadmaster's Dungeon," and "Road Whore," Lexi Lamour's stories of stripping and strippers.

Guests at last night's opening party included photographer Ken Marcus, Kylee King, Alanna Thomas (pictured), Trinity Saij (pictured), Cleopatra (pictured), Carrie Moon, Dakoda Brookes, Sammy LaMar, Mika Tan (pictured), and Sunny Lane.

Previously: Energy drink-drinking nudes; Wankus out at KSEX, fired by phone
See also: Rude TV

Labels: alanna thomas, cleopatra, events, interviews, ksex, kylee king, mika tan, rudetv, sunny lane, wankus

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Everyone needs marketing (and a car) in California, and porn stars are no different. When an adult performer or product has reached critical mass, it is necessary that a publicist be hired to sell him, her, or it within the porn industry.

You might think that the porn industry needn't be alerted, because no one in the porn industry has the need to buy these products, but having a publicist is a status symbol. You might also say that the press releases quoted below might have to be heavily edited before they are published, but that's not the point, either.

The following press releases arrived this week.

• Spears' literate screenplay focuses on the story of Tess and Linda, two sisters (both played by Daniels) whose lives couldn't have taken more divergent paths. Tess is shy and demure, and Linda is a rebellious hellion. Yet while their personalities couldn't be more dissimilar, the worlds they inhabit soon become inexorably linked in a web of madness and murder, and ultimately collide in a shocking, wholly unexpected twist ending. For her part, Daniels enthusiastically describes this intricately designed, carefully shaded dual role as having more dramatic depth than anything she's attempted before as a performer.
• Being bathed in the adoration of her devoted fans is nothing new or unusual for HellHouse Media's latest contract star Moxxie Maddron. Being bathed in unrelenting sunshine in a lush tropical climate just might be! Nevertheless, the newest addition to the ever growing empire of HellHouse is willing to brave the weather, however warm and lovely it might be, to make her debut appearance for Genesis Magazine at this year's EXXXOTICA Miami show.
• It has been one year since Silver Sinema launched it’s highly successful DVD line. Distributed by (PPM) Pure Play Media, the DVD Line has thus far delivered what it promised.
• Eli Cross is directing a very unique show for SexZ Pictures specifically designed for contract star Hillary Scott. Legitimate members of the media only are invited to cover this shoot.
• By day Tera will man the Teravision booth and will be joined by AVN “Performer of the Year” Sasha Grey, Charmane Star and other sexy stars of Teravision hits like Broken, Teradise Island 2 and XXXBox. In additions to photos, autographs and meeting thousands of fans, Tera will play hostesses to the weekend’s hottest party.
• Melrose Avenue in Hollywood has become famous as the place where movie stars and stylish people shop for the latest trendy fashions. April 20, 2008 is date when porn and fashion collide!

Previously: Jameson further distances herself from adult world via spelling; Free to Bree O or E; Gram saves steveporn's credibility

Labels: hype, sic, verbatim

posted by Gram the Man at Friday, April 18, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

...otherwise it could be awkward. Luckily she's facing us, but if she just looks to the right...Oh man. I don't want to be there when that happens.

Labels: because, fotos, lisa demarco, marco banderas

posted by Gram the Man at Thursday, April 17, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post