| --Thursday, July 24, 2008--
Memphis Monroe unpeeled for field manual
 I have a feeling that the promotional Memphis Monroe video might be the best thing about the new book "Wife Training: A Pig's Guide to Love And Marriage."
The Pride of Northern Kentucky and Southern Indiana gives 90's-era Jenny McCarthy a run for her money in her I Know You're Looking at My Boobs But You Should Listen Anyway presentation. It was enough to get me to the book's website, anyway, where I found some things that concerned me.
- As a happily married man, I know that wives chafe at the word "training." Instead, they prefer subtle emotional reconditioning which may include unpredictable gifts of chocolates (to keep them on their best behavior) and mindful taps to certain fleshy areas.
- The book says that women prefer "real men." I believe this, too, but everyone knows that real men don't use .net extensions; they find an available .com and go for it.
- I don't know why some chapters needed exclamation points and others didn't. I was also disappointed in Chapter Six, "The Holy Grain of Wife Training." Don't you mean grail? I wouldn't be up to my Xiphoid Process in primo female tail if I wasn't conversant with King Arthur and Indiana Jones.
But lesser literary endeavors have always benefited from the presence of hot women. If you don't believe me, look at this.
Monroe says she shot the video last year. "It's hilarious LOL," she explained.
Previously: Memphis Monroe's nipples get Clubbed; "The Delivery Man"; bodies buried in the desert
See also: Memphis Monroe's "Wife Training" ad; "Wife Training"Labels: books, memphis monroe
posted by Gram the Man
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--Friday, May 30, 2008--
In the Flesh wants your sex
 "George Bailey, do you ever get tired of just reading about things?" says local sassypants Violet Bick in "It's A Wonderful Life."
That's the way I usually feel when invited to erotica readings. I get nervous in a roomful of people who use the phrase "my sex" for their genitalia. But on the strength of participants the adorable Rachel Kramer Bussel, Canadian Carly Milne, and fashion plate Stan Kent I visited the debut reading of In the Flesh L.A., the west coast version of a monthly salon organized by Bussel in New York.
Carly Milne, former AVN writer and porn industry publicist whose 2002 Christmas gift thermos came in handy in this incident, is organizer of the L.A. version of In the Flesh, and last night's inaugural reading at Freddy and Eddy's on Venice Blvd. drew a respectable crowd of people who don't blush easily.
The readings were an interesting combination of blog-based erotica and the more traditional kind, with a couple of stops in between.
Last night's theme was "Survival" and, though not every reader kept to the theme, cross-dresser Willem Belli started the evening with a bang with a searing story of toe-rape at the nether digits of a male prostitute. Then Bussel read her riveting account of a mostly-zipless fuck at the Atlanta airport, which was the evening's most graphic and evocative story.
British author Maxim Jakubowski read a story called "The Summer of Grant Lee Buffalo," a sexual autobiography as it related to music. The title referred to a crush his lover had on the bass player of Grant Lee Buffalo, Paul Kimble.
There was a generational divide that affected my enjoyment of the story; while two people had just read from blogs (or, as I suspect of Belli, extemporaneously), Jakubowski's reading was a chapter of his book. My attention waned as the litany of music and sex continued (Leonard Cohen, jazz, more Leonard Cohen), through no fault of his own, but through my own inability to pay attention to anything that takes more than two revolutions of a scroll wheel.
That Jakubowski referenced Grant Lee Buffalo but not the name of the bass player was also uncharacteristic of the difference between blogging and traditional literature; I found Kimble's name on Wikipedia in three seconds, placed the date of the concert Jakubowski's girlfriend first saw Kimble (1996), and listened to a GLB music sample online.
After a short break came Stan Kent, who also read from his one of his books, but it was a selection from his postpuk "Shoe Leather" series, and he referenced Jakubowski in saying that from now on he would introduce himself at parties as the bass player for Grant Lee Buffalo.
The evening ended with Shana Ting Lipton's essay about revisiting Amsterdam as a tourist after having lived there. The heartlessness with which she dissected her flings made me cross her off the list of potential dates for the lonelyhearts porn performers I know.
In the Flesh L.A. returns to Freddy And Eddy's the fourth Thursday of each month. I will be reading a couple of short stories in July's show.
(pictured L-R: Rachel Kramer Bussel, Carly Milne, Shana Ting Lipton, Maxim Jakubowski)
Previously: The Naked and the Read; The Bi Apple
See also: Peter Gabriel's anatomization of Sex, Carly Milne, Rachel Kramer Bussel; Stan Kent; Shana Ting LiptonLabels: books, carly milne, events, marital aids, rachel kramer bussel
posted by Gram the Man
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--Thursday, May 29, 2008--
Gödel, Escher, Bree Barrett
 Here's 20-year-old newcomer Bree Barrett (no relation*) in a couple of Lulu/Goldie Hawn poses that are both retro and graphic.
 I was intrigued that one of her talents is Bach parties. As you can imagine, the porn world jumps back and forth between Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and Holst's "Mars, Bringer of War" with very little Telemann in between. Is today's porn consumer ready for a mathematical, fugal sex style characterized by multiple variations and particularly venerated by Lutherans?
The best part of this resume is that "interracial" is formatted like a fat girl's MySpace page.
*to Bree Olson
Previously: I see that I've made this joke before
See also: Adult Talent ManagersLabels: agency, atm, books, bree barrett, bree olson, new talent
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, April 29, 2008--
The Delivery Man: Bodies buried in the desert
 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
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--Monday, April 28, 2008--
Narcissistic Personality Disorder or just two very blonde women getting paid to have sex
 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 WorldLabels: books, casey parker, devon, psychology, Shane's World
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, March 11, 2008--
The Voluptuous Feet of Ed Fox (and Jenna Presley)
 Photographer Ed Fox is, like late predecessor (and fellow Taschen photographer) Elmer Batters, a foot man.
But Fox' feet tend to be attached to equally juicy porn stars like Tera Patrick, Brittany Andrews, Jill Kelly, Kelly Madison, Aria Giovanni, Jewel De'Nyle, Belladonna, Penny Flame, and Jenna Presley, who is the cover girl of his debut book, "Ed Fox: Glamour from the Ground Up" from Taschen
"Ground up" is also a way we might describe the soul of a human being subjected to porn, so the title is very clever, the way we might talk about a foot fetish at the same time we could be referencing so much hamburger.
Powers and Presley will be on (hand?) to sign his book at Taschen's Beverly Hills store on March 27.
"A beautiful foot is an extra," Fox said. "The same as shapely breasts or a nice ass, and all part of a feminine shape. It's all about voluptuousness."
I have never before thought of feet as voluptuous, or that they could be. Now I will require it.
 "Glamour from the Ground Up" also includes a behind the scenes DVD.
Previously: (Pop) shot in the foot
See also: Ed Fox
Labels: Aria Giovanni, books, Brittany Andrews, ed fox, feet, fetish, Jenna presley, jewel de'nyle, Jill Kelly, kelly madison, photographers, tera patrick
posted by Gram the Man
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--Friday, February 29, 2008--
Laura Albert might be the next porn crossover
 Laura Albert (right) published three books under the name JT LeRoy and employed others (such as the woman to the left) to adopt the invented persona of LeRoy, a male teen prodigy/prostitute/AIDS afflictee.
When the story broke in 2006 that the 40-ish Albert had invented the whole thing, she was sued by her publisher and shunned by LeRoy's early supporters; they felt betrayed when what they'd been led to believe about the author had turned out to be a lie.
It turns out Albert had fashioned a lifetime of such behavior into a career.
Dave Eggers, interviewed for an excellent LA Weekly story about Albert, said, "I teach writing to high school students, and every year, I have a kid whose writing is great, and I ask myself, is it really great, or do I think it's great because a 15-year-old wrote it? You can never separate it."
Albert herself felt victimized by the ill will generated by her unmasking, but dismissed it as "sour grapes."
Speaking of her entourage and former supporters, Albert told the LA Weekly that "We were really there (to spread) joy and love."
Her work was judged the way it was because people believed she was someone else, rather than on the work itself.
What sort of allowances do you think consumers make when faced with the invented personae of porn?
Previously: "You're not one of us"; Cultural learnings of the Abby Winters girls
See also: The lies and follies of Laura Albert, aka JT LeRoy (laweekly)
Labels: books, commentary, news
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, February 26, 2008--
Christa Faust's "Money Shot"; Tina Tyler talks about Angel Dare
 Angel Dare is a former porn star and current adult talent manager who is tricked into one final scene by an old friend. Her scene partner, he says, is a newish male performer who has always been an Angel Dare fan.
Christa Faust's "Money Shot" delivers more than pulp thrillers should and, as it was written using Porn Valley and its professionals as main characters, it is a compelling read.
Faust spent time as a fetish model and peep show booth worker, and her descriptions of adult industry personnel are spot-on, from the lingering insecurity of people who have nevertheless spent hundreds of hours naked on camera to the rare, rewarding, and/or fragile relationships they maintain.
"I wanted Angel to be at the top of her game; smart, savvy and satisfied with the career she created for herself," Faust told me. "(I felt) it was important to create a female protagonist who was not simply a 'victim' of the adult film industry, as is so often the case in fiction and film. Far too often, women who feature in adult videos are viewed as having hit rock bottom."
When Dare is nearly murdered, she seeks not only to change the fate of others on her attackers' list but also vengeance, and her journey from complacence to ass-kickery is the story the book tells.
On the way, "Money Shot" visits familiar spots in the Valley, drops a few names for credibility, and explores the psyche of porn stars of a certain age.
"I have worked in the fetish end of the adult film industry for years, both behind and in front of the camera," Faust said. "I spent a lot of time on sets, talking with, and more importantly listening to people in every aspect of the business from talent and shooters to editors and producers."
"Money Shot" was published by the New York house Hard Case Crime. The cover is satisfyingly lurid. Faust also makes money by writing horror movie novelizations and serials, such as for the "Final Destination" and "Friday the 13th" movies.
As I read the book I couldn't help but picture Tina Tyler as Angel Dare. Faust said she didn't have anyone in mind.
Described as "The Thinking Man's Porn Star" ("Some of my fans thought that was an insult," Tyler said, "as if my appeal was limited to thinking people"), Tyler quit performing a few years ago and started directing. Unlike Dare, Tyler says she was never tempted to return to the other side of the camera.
"Even by the time I was done onscreen I was done," she said.
Like Dare, however, Tyler is sadder-but-wiser and doesn't mythologize the porn industry.
I asked her what form propositions from fans take lately.
"It was always uncomfortable," Tyler said, "but it's more so now, because I don't see myself through those eyes anymore."
Tyler is amazed by fans who recognize her even when she's not wearing makeup.
"Those are the real fans," she said, "who know more about me than I do. They want more from you in any given public moment than any other person and you have to be cordial with them and let them down in the same breath."
 I loaned "Money Shot" to Tyler and she read it in a few days. This photograph was taken at the Lamplighter Restaurant in Chatsworth, which Faust failed to mention, but then again the photo was staged.
"Some of the plot points shocked me," Tyler said. "In a good way."
Always going above and beyond, Tyler provided a written book report:
I was really looking forward to reading this novel and wasn't disappointed in the least. The heroine Angel Dare's journey from aging porn star to ass kicking survivor is riveting and impossible to put down. I was impressed with Ms. Faust's knowledge of the adult industry as a whole and loved the 2257 info as a plot point.
 Ms. Faust has a keen perception and must have talked to a few women in this business at length, as every female character rang true. The men on the other hand were rather one-dimensional and stereotypical. However, this just drives the point home that even strong women in this business suffer from lower esteem than your average woman and don't feel they deserve true happiness with a man that will treat them right, preferring instead to follow their genitals into situations that their brain screams No to.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the opening of the book; it's Angel's pussy and insecurity over her (in her mind) fading looks that put her in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The men in this novel seemingly have no redeeming values, from the sadistic stud Jesse, to Malloy the former cop/bodyguard and all the men in between, they all betray our heroine in some real way. I don't believe this was meant as a slam, but in any crime novel your bad guys need to be so bad that you root for your heroes that much more.
The reader needs to remember that this is fiction (with a few famous names and streets thrown in) and as fiction "Money Shot" really does its job well. I read it cover to cover in three days and wanted more when it was over.
"Money Shot" is the perfect marriage of two of my favortite things, the adult indiustry and brilliant crime fiction. Kudos to Ms. Faust for crafting a story that all women should read. It left me feeling empowered. I mentioned that Dare is ultimately abandoned by the one person the reader isn't expected to suspect, and seems to shrug it off.
"That kind of taking it in stride comes from a lifetime of betrayal."
Previously: Tina Tyler refuses to stop being hot; At home with Lexington Steele; Area code impurity to destroy Valley, porn
See also: Christa Faust
Labels: books, interviews, tine tyler
posted by Gram the Man
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--Friday, July 20, 2007--
Audacia's Velveteen Blog
 The other night I talked with sex blogger/director/performer Audacia Ray when she stopped by a Venice Blvd. sex shop to read from her book "Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration".
As a large part of our living comes from writing about sex, and as Ray and I are both tremendously sexy people, was it possible to have a conversation without writing about it? Did not writing about it make it less real?
Find the inevitable answer after the break in the HTML continuum.
Freddy & Eddy's is a bookstore/sex shop in an unlikely spot west of Centinela on Venice Blvd. run by husband and wife team Ian (Freddy) and Alicia (Eddy) Denchasy. When they started the online version of their store, which preceded the physical one, several years ago, they both had day jobs that didn't lend themselves to selling dildos and floggers.
So Ian chose the names "Freddy and Eddy", the characters played by Michael McKean and David Lander in the 1980 movie Used Cars. (They also played Lenny and Squiggy in "Laverne And Shirley".)
"They were ambiguous names, and wouldn't give us away," said Alicia. "I was working in a law form and Ian was a teacher."
Ray read selections from her book in a cozy back patio, furnished with wine, cherries, and Costco pizza. Among the attendees were Vena Virago and Suki and Brian Vatter, creators of the iPod vibrator OhMiBod, which I reviewed last year for Fleshbot.
Ray has been on the road supporting her book since May, stopping in places like Boston, Charlotte, and Amsterdam. Her ex-boyfriend is staying in her apartment in New York while she's out.
"In New York we have a real estate problem?" Ray said, "so sometimes your apartment woes trump your relationships, and you end up living with your exes."
"Naked"'s seven chapters deal primarily with how women express their sexuality online, via media from blogs to chatboards to cyberdildonics.
Each reading is followed by a Q & A period, and Ray observed that, regardless of city, people tend to focus their questions on the commercial sex/sex-for-money chapters.
"One woman in Baltimore finally asked, 'Is this whole book about commercial sex?'" Ray recalled. "And I said, 'No, but all these questions seem to be'."
 The L.A. audience's questions focused on academia. I was proud of them. Ray said she picks her battles when deciding whether or not to mention her own sex work in academic settings.
She also shied away from predicting the future of online sexuality and explained why there wasn't a lot of Ray herself in the book.
"I found that of the 80 women I interviewed, any time I was about to offer up my own story, they had already lived it."
It's easy to forget (for me, anyway), that not everyone writes everything down.
"I have a boyfriend now, and I don't write too much about him on my blog," Ray told the audience. "It really helps the relationship."
Ray reads well but does not make a performance of it. She said she varies what she reads to keep herself interested, but does not choose chapters depending on her audience. Nothing in the reading, therefore, seemed titillating, it only seemed informative.
I read the book online, where the Internet lives, but the book is available in terrestrial form. Having a word like "Internet" in the title, with the book's Matrix-y cover art, made me wonder if the book will still be relevant in ten years, if it is instantly topical but also inevitably obsolete, the way we are immediately jarred out of a movie when we see an old, bulky cell phone.
But the Internet, however it will continue to be defined, is just the latest vehicle for self-expression, so the book will date itself with mentions of chatboard URLs and millennial technology but will also remain evergreen, as the Internet is only the latest means by which boobs can be presented for approval.
Ray and I stared at each other for a bit. I asked if, now that she writes everything down, what remains secret in her life.
"I don't know," she said. "If I don't write this down, will it have really happened?"
Previously: Audacia goes the extra mile; Bi Apple review
See also: Audacia Ray, Buy "Naked on the Internet", Why mentioning a skin horse is not dirty in this context
Labels: "audacia ray", books, interviews
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, July 17, 2007--
Audacia Ray in Venice
 My pal Audacia Ray will be at Freddy & Eddy bookstore in Venice tonight, signing copies of her "Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration" and trying hard to fit in.
"In an attempt to blend with the local culture," she said, "I might actually not wear all black. But, we'll see. I'm not promising anything."
Just wear nothing, Audacia. That's what those people in Venice do. (Well, the homeless ones.)
Freddy and Eddy is located at 12613 Venice Blvd. The signing begins at 8.
Previously: The Bi Apple; Jamye Waxman: The Female You; Benny Profane, Zak Sabbath, and Audacia Ray walk into a party at which a woman pops balloons by means of darts she shoots out of her pussy
See also: Freddy and Eddy, Audacia Ray, Buy "Naked on the Internet"Labels: "audacia ray", books, events
posted by Gram the Man
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--Thursday, April 05, 2007--
Pornhounds
 Pornhounds is a comic book by New York-based gentlemen's magazine writer Sharon Lintz about her days working for San Francisco's defunct Spectator, a legendary broadsheet filled with porn reviews and escort ads.
If you read Lintz' writing you might be struck by its similarity to that of former AVN editors Susie Mid-America and Rebecca Gray in its stream of consciousness/you'd better fucking listen style.
In several stories illustrated by artists like Ed Piskor and Sophie Crumb, Lintz describes her former co-workers - Pornhounds - at an unnamed magazine, including people eerily reminiscent of director David Aaron Clark and Adam Film World editor Anthony Petkovich, both of whom wrote for the Spectator while Lintz was there.
"She took a bite of my sandwich," Petkovich confirmed recently.
Lintz spends the comic learning to quit worrying and love the fact that she is a porn writer.
"For the first time in years," she writes, "I'm not obsessively thinking about what else I should be doing. I love this job."
Previously: Scenes from the class struggle in Playboy's Penthouse; Vena Virago: Tempted; The Erotic (Kool-Aid Acid) Coloring Book; VCA embraces pixelation; Porned Alaska
See also: PornhoundsLabels: "david aaron clark", art, books
posted by Gram the Man
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While GramPonante.com is written for a tenth-grade reading level (in some countries), you must be 18 years or older to visit this site. Sorry.
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