| --Friday, September 19, 2008--
Kayden Kross, jealous boyfriends, and the pitfalls of real estate tycoonery
 People who come to this site for the latest poorly-spelled and ill-vetted porn world gossip have always been horribly disappointed. Why, the last time I printed gossip was when I commented (exactly two years ago) on the rampant speculation that I had been sold to Playboy.
Regardless, the delightful Kayden Kross, formerly of Vivid and Hustler, now of Adam & Eve and America (not the band; the country), has been embroiled in a court case that, in addition to the litigants, pits those who wish ill on the beautiful against her corporate sponsors.
Kross says she and a family facing mortgage foreclosure were pulled into a scam by a "shitty mortgage lender" in which (as can be seen on craigslist every day) she would assume mortgage payments from the family, who would then pay rent to her. That the mortgage still went unpaid and the family was kicked out of their home is the only certainty in a case called for arraignment in Sacramento on October 14.
Kross says she was duped, the family involved (allegedly) says she knew about the scam all along, and porn sites written by friends and foes call her a victim or a criminal mastermind, or that what Kross calls naivete was actually very calculated.
Adam & Eve, which just lost Ava Rose and does not want any harm to come to its blondes Bree Olson and Kross, addresses the issue as an example of the pettiness of a jilted ex:
This issue is being fueled by an ex-boyfriend who has been charged on multiple occasions and is a convicted domestic abuser. Ms. Kross' case will be vigorously defended and she is looking forward to her day in court to expose the truth and clear her name of any wrongdoing. Oddly enough, porn is the only place where ex boyfriends enjoy any power whatsoever. Casey Parker's ex shocked dozens when he let it be known that she had, in fact, done porn before, an ex of Kami Andrews almost sent hordes of blowjob-seeking mopes to her house, Kiki D'aire's ex-family continues to try to discredit her to porn fans, and Jenna Jameson's ex won't quit in his designs to release awful movies with her in them.
It would be a shame to think that Kross, who has always been nice to me despite the fact that all I can give her is exposure to a literate readership, was complicit in a real estate scam.
What is currently a shame is that people not concerned with the case at all are taking such delight in it.
Previously: And on the 8th Day, God blew up Boston; Kayden Kross representing the Luchadores; Kami, Kiki, and Anastasia: Battle of the Exes
See also: Club Kayden, Adam & EveLabels: "adam and eve", anastasia blue, Ava Rose, bree olson, kami andrews, Kayden Kross, kiki d'aire, legal
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, July 22, 2008--
San Francisco takes first step in decriminalizing prostitution
 San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, mulling the idea of succeeding Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California, is against decriminalizing prostitution in his city, saying that it will hinder investigation of sex trafficking.
But members of the Erotic Service Providers Union, which represents some prostitutes, strippers, and other hands-on laborers, who gathered 12,000 signatures to land a measure to end prostitution prosecution (as well as requiring first-time johns to attend a class) on this November's ballot, rejoiced.
"We made it!" said Starchild, a Bay Area male prostitute and activist. "Now all we have to do is win the election."
A Prostitution Task Force convened by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors recommended decriminalization in 1996.
Sex worker activist Maxine Doogan said it was about time the said it was about time the Task Force's suggestions were implemented.
"Criminalizing sex workers has been putting workers at risk of violence and discrimination for far too long," she said.
Previously: Mom and pop whores benefit from rising gas prices; Gram needs prostitutes
See also: Erotic Service Providers UnionLabels: legal, prosties, san francisco
posted by Gram the Man
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--Friday, July 18, 2008--
Charlotte Stokely should sue
 What with all the nuisance lawsuits flying around the adult industry these days, along comes Thays Schiavinato, a dead ringer for Charlotte Stokely (except for the penis). Stokely should so sue.
Transsexual Jerk-offs is a movie from Juicy Entertainment. The very title sounds like something a New York City cab driver might say (judges would also have accepted "Transsexual Jagoff"). It's a comforting sign that porn is getting more mainstream every day.TM
Joanne Cachapero, with whom I write a monthly review column for the adult trade magazine XBiz Premiere, walked into my office while this movie was on and said, "Who's the pretty girl?"
"It's a transsexual, Joanne," rolling my eyes like a teenager.
"Oh," she said. "I didn't see the penis."
"You never do," I said. "Until it's too late."
 Transsexual Jerk-offs
Previously: Charlotte Stokely speaks in tongues; Transsexual MILFs
See also: Juicy EntertainmentLabels: charlotte stokely, legal, new porn daily, transsexual, xbiz
posted by Gram the Man
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--Monday, July 14, 2008--
Sacrificing laundry for porn, freedom
 Tricia Devereaux's scene at the end of the 3-disc Evil Angel compilation/fundraising effort Defend Our Porn adds value to a project that already serves as a dream team of performers and directors working in a variety of styles.
 Q. But Grams, all porn is the same. Why showcase different directors?
A. Maybe all porn aims toward the same result, but this collection underlines the fact that the means vary, from sunless and terrifying scenes with Nacho Vidal in Berlin to sunless and terrifying scenes with Nacho Vidal in a room with a monkey, and everything in between, from gauzy and glamorous to down and dirty.
 But what makes the Devereaux scene special is that the nervousness she feels at returning to performing is incorporated into the scene. I appreciate this because I was a theatre major at Porn Valley Community College, Sylmar (though I didn't get to take the James Bartholet master class).
Read the review (and why the movie was made in the first place) here.
Previously: Who knew this would happen?
See also: Evil AngelLabels: evil angel, legal, tricia devereaux
posted by Gram the Man
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--Thursday, July 03, 2008--
David Lord denies prostitution charges
 Director David Crawford, whose alias in the porn industry is David Lord, said in a statement released today that his recent arrest on charges of staging a sham marriage has nothing to do with prostitution, as has (allegedly) been reported elsewhere.
According to the Associated Press Crawford, 37, married the Hungarian Agnes Jeges in 2003 and two years later applied for a green card for her. Routine investigation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service revealed that Crawford and Veges, who is alleged to have worked in a Sherman Oaks brothel, did not live together.
Crawford is charged with perjury for having lied on Jeges' immigration application. If convicted he faces five years in prison. Jeges would serve ten years if convicted for making false statements.
Having once been married to a Hungarian myself, I agree that it was a sham.
Jennifer Silliman, deputy special agent in charge of the ICE office in Los Angeles, said her agency investigated the legitimacy of the Crawford/Jeges marriage on a tip.
Everyone I know who knows Lord likes him, but I guess I don't know the type of people who ratted him out. Apparently there have been reports that the director, who has worked for a number of companies, was "linked to a prostitution ring" and he denies this, as does Jeges deny she is or was a prostitute.
"Those statements are false and have absolutely no merit," Lord said in a statement. So not only did someone drop a dime to the federales about his marriage to Jeges, but there have also been reports he's linked with illegal prostitution. Someone is pulling out all the stops.
Crawford's attorney could not be reached at press time, but I do wonder why a porn director facing federal charges in one matter would make an effort to distance himself from something he is not charged with, unless there is a risk of being charged with more crimes.
I have known several people involved in sham marriages and it really does seem like a victimless crime, especially when compared to the large number of legitimate but loveless marriages.
Lord was released from jail on his own recognizance yesterday.
Above: image from Lord's Pinks
Pinks
Previously: Pinks review on Fleshbot; Surewood arraigned on eight charges
See also: L.A. porn director charged with staging sham marriage (sfgate via AP)Labels: david lord, Hungary, legal, prosties
posted by Gram the Man
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--Monday, June 23, 2008--
Noname Jane is born as Violet Blue departs
 It's strange that the Performer Formerly Known as Violet Blue should make her exit with a movie about impending birth, but that's what happened last week as Adam & Eve, producers of the excellent Nina Hartley's Guide to Great Sex During Pregnancy, was legally enjoined to remove the name "Violet Blue" from the boxcover.
In October of last year, the sex columnist Violet Blue (with whom I share masthead space at Fleshbot) sued the performer Violet Blue, winner of AVN's Best New Starlet award in 2002 (as of today, "Violet Blue" is still listed as the winner) for, among other things, trademark violation. The writer believes the name of the performer diluted the brand the writer had built over the years.
The performer, born Ada Mae Johnson, lost the case and had to hand over the keys to the domain violetblue.org. The new mother (it was her second child that she was carrying in the Hartley video) has returned as Noname Jane, but has the onerous task of informing companies she worked for as Violet Blue that they need to remove her name from current movies.
So far, only the famously cautious Adam & Eve has complied, and only for Nina Hartley's Guide to Great Sex During Pregnancy. Existing copies on store shelves or in the warehouses of e-tailers are not affected, but the boxcover has been redesigned for reorders.
I have talked with people on either side of this issue, some of whom consented to go on the record, but I am not going to start quoting people until I can present a more balanced story.
One reason for this is that both women show evidence of having professionally used the name "Violet Blue" for years and, while the performer can lay claim to being famous in her corner of the sex industry for longer, the writer's footprint has expanded, and the writer has taken more steps to create a legal paper trail, such as trademarking the name in 2007.
Plus, it is clear that the writer really wants it.
In the porn world, the people I've talked with are not happy with the writer Blue, and in the mainstream world coverage has focused - as it will - on the story's comic elements (this Wired story almost makes it out alive but then cannot help itself from calling the performer a "thespian." The story's comments clearly favor the performer).
It is unlikely the case will go any further. Noname Jane does not have the resources to fight Blue, who has won the first (and perhaps final) round, and it is only if enough adult companies are similarly hampered with injunctions that they would consider fighting back.
The picture above is among the first of the brand new Noname Jane, taken by Ed Fox. Nonamejane.com is under construction and, the performer says, "no one else has that name."
Previously: Nina Hartley's Great Sex During Pregnancy
See also: The writer; the performer at the Internet Adult Film DatabaseLabels: legal, nina hartley, noname jane
posted by Gram the Man
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--Monday, June 16, 2008--
Report: Altporn world angry that drama is going away
 The copyright fight between the photographer Lithium Picnic, his partner, Apnea, and their former employer, the site Suicide Girls, has been settled, Lithium Picnic says.
But the rancor created in the months-long fight, in which people took sides for or against the famously-litigious "altporn" company, doesn't just dissolve because Lithium Picnic and "SG" are friends again, partisans say.
If nothing in the above two paragraphs makes sense to you, if you just now figured out that "Lithium Picnic" and "Apnea" are actual people, and if uttering the name "Suicide Girls" only leaves an unpleasant aftertaste of steveporn, you are as in the dark about this group of people as I am, and you should instead go to Blue Blood.net, read this story, and come to your own conclusions. Then explain what happened to me.
Previously: You're not one of us
See also: SuicideGirls vs Lithium Picnic lawsuit settledLabels: blue blood, legal, lithium picnic, steveporn, suicide girls
posted by Gram the Man
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Michael Ninn looks for a more congenial spot
 The director Michael Ninn, known for his artful pornography, last year entered a partnership with the gentlemen's club chain Spearmint Rhino to thematically link those two companies. Ninn has ended his relationship with the fraught-with-turmoil result of that partnership, Ninnworx_SR.
"A Ninnworx movie delivers overwrought porn with a complex storyline and editing that prevents masturbators from getting a good look at the crucial parts," I said in my unsuccessful bid to be Ninnworx_SR's marketing director, "and Spearmint Rhino delivers listless strippers for an outrageous cover charge and drinks minimum.
"You should really get together."
After months of contract stars being announced and then dropping out, a move to the non-strategic Riverside County town of Norco and, according to Ninn associates, checks going unpaid by the Spearmint Rhino corporate office, Ninnworx_SR only remains as a website.
In truth, Ninnworx was never a real partner with Spearmint Rhino. No one visiting any of the club's stateside or international locations would be greeted by Catherine-branded pinball machines, Sacred Sin nonalcoholic cocktails, or Neopornographia lap dances. The Spearmint Rhino customer would never know Ninnworx existed. On the other hand, every Ninnworx movie was labeled with the Spearmint Rhino logo.
In a Camelot-invoking mea culpa that is unusual for porn (but which also left no doubt about where the real blame lies), Michael Ninn changed his name to IMNinn and apologized to anyone who believed his previous press releases.
"I would first like to apologize to the people who believed in me over the last eight months as I made my path through a journey called Ninn Worx_SR. I publicly apologize to Brea Bennett, Cassidey, Jana Jordan, Nikki Kane and Renee Perez, who believed in me and a dream I had, called Ninn Worx_SR. You did not deserve the way you have been treated, the half-truths you were told, nor the lack of respect you were given. My support for you, my crew and every other person that believed in me and my dream never failed. However, because of my belief in what Ninn Worx_SR could be, I find myself on the outside of my own company, looking in. A place I never imagined I'd be, but a fitting place none the less for me. I join you on the outside of Ninn Worx_SR, not a broken man, but a person who choose conscience over wealth, respect over disrespect and truth over half truths," stated IMNINN. Ninn, who has worked in the adult industry for 16 years, then continued with the righteousness of a man burned in a business relationship.
"There comes a time in most people's life when you must make this choice; to put the better good above ones self, that wealth is not as important as well being and doing the right thing makes you a better person in spite of the out come. I say to you today, I stand on the outside of Ninn Worx_SR along with my contract stars and my crew, knowing that I no longer have to live with the lie that the check is in the mail or that the corporate committee will get back to you, as soon as they have reviewed your invoice and have reached a decision on paying you. "I feel this is not an end at all, but just the beginning. I enter the next phase of the Ninn Worx_SR relationship with a positive attitude and a firm belief in our legal system and welcome the challenges ahead." (I especially like the "firm belief in our legal system." That's a badass thing to say. That's something I would say as I dropped my cigarette on the floor and crushed it under my boot. I would also add "Baby." So as I walked away from an onerous business relationship I would drop my cigarette to the floor, crush it under my boot, and say, "I have a strong belief in our legal system, Baby.")
Ninn's straight porn homage to 300, The Four, will be released under the Ninnworx_SR label in August.
Previously: In a wet room with black curtains; Sacred Sin; Brea Bennett a witch; Ninnworx makes squatting sexy; Rhino to get Ninn skin
See also: NinnworxLabels: business, fraught with turmoil, legal, ninnworx, strippers
posted by Gram the Man
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--Wednesday, May 28, 2008--
Surewood arraigned on eight charges, pleads not guilty
 Porn performer Brian Surewood and co-defendant Armando Ayon appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court, Van Nuys Division today for a joint arraignment. Their case was continued for a pre-trial conference on June 26.
A high profile case that has raised awareness, through tragedy, of both the everyday nature of road rage and of its often-unexpected outcome, Surewood's dilemma is one that, but for a few details, is one that could happen to most Los Angeles drivers.
Read more about Surewood (born Brian Barnes) here.
Surewood and Ayon both pleaded not guilty to the same five charges: Murder in the first degree, Vehicular Manslaughter, and three counts of Reckless Driving Resulting in Injury or Death. Surewood also faces three additional charges of Hit And Run.
Previously: Brian SurewoodLabels: brian surewood, legal
posted by Gram the Man
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--Friday, May 16, 2008--
Surewood to be arraigned for murder May 28
 Porn performer Brian Surewood's case moves toward a May 28 arraignment with the completion of the discovery phase of his murder trial, in which no significant charges were dropped.
Read about the October incident that resulted in the arrest of Surewood (born Brian Barnes) and Armando Ayon here (Brian Surewood held for murder; Brian Surewood reckless driving case continued to May 14).
The case has achieved significant media exposure as a tragic example of the results of street racing; both defendants claim that at least the other defendant was racing.
I attended Surewood's trial on Wednesday on the ninth floor of the Van Nuys Division of Los Angeles Superior Court. There were about 30 people in attendance, representatives of the family of the late Ayman Arif, friends and family of Armando Ayon, and friends and family of Surewood, including his mother, an uncle, and some cousins.
Each person in attendance had reason to be powerfully sad. No one wanted to be there and would have gone back and changed the circumstances if he could.
Which is why the jovial atmosphere beyond the bar, as lawyers for the defense and prosecution, court officers and stenographers, joked and drank coffee, seemed indecorous. We'd been warned to arrive at 8:30 sharp, so when the doors weren't open until 8:50, and court didn't start until 9:15, it appeared that, even as it was just another day in court for its employees, some measure of respect should have been paid to the grieving friends and family of everyone involved.
There were five quick cases before People vs. Barnes and Ayon, and another quick case, involving two guys who were found with a trunk full of 95 stolen credit cards (their lawyer tried to defend them by saying that they had "strong ties to their community," which made me laugh because I come from that community), just after the recess.
But at 9:44 the case was finally called, and first Ayon, and then Surewood, were led into the courtroom and were seated and handcuffed side by side. Surewood is a little heavier than people in the adult community remember him; he has been in a 6' x 8' cell since October, and his characteristic beard, which he cultivated since his decision to be a "character" porn actor, is gone. Instead, he looks like a sadder, aged version of his mid-90's self, as if the Surewood who looked like he capered around with a pan flute never existed.
There were two witnesses called during the day. The first was L.A.P.D. Detective David Millan, who had taken statements from Ayon and Surewood the night of the accident. Ayon had given his statement at 8:30 p.m. (the accident happened just after 3 p.m.) and Surewood, who had just turned himself in, gave his at around 9:30 p.m.
Surewood's attorney through this phase of the trial (it is uncertain if he will continue through the arraignment, due to financial agreements) was Peter Korn. Korn appeared on top of his game, if a little cocky (at one point judge Leslie Dunn corrected him on a statement that was "cumulative," or comprised the spirit of a series of other statements, but hadn't actually been uttered. Korn replied to the judge, "Yes, I just wanted to see if you'd heard it.")
The main battle of the day was between Korn and the prosecutor, James Falco. Ayon's attorney, Howard Levine (no relation to the longtime Pulse/Vivid salesperson) appeared incoherent at times. Levine and Korn were concerned with exculpating their clients and reducing their charges, and Falco needed to make them stick.
As such, both Levine and Falco tried to paint Surewood as the aggressor in the case. No one contradicted that it was Ayon who actually struck the cars that injured the Arif family, but both defense attorneys painted their clients as trying to get away from the other, belligerent driver.
Surewood actually had one more charge against him than Ayon: leaving the scene of an accident. Korn tried to get this charge thrown out by pointing out that Surewood had called 911 immediately after the accident, and tied it in with a refutation of the murder charge, arguing that no one who had intended to commit murder would have bothered to stop and dial 911.
The actual call was not played in court, but Falco pointed out that Surewood had not identified himself in the transcript, if it was Surewood at all. In any case, there did not seem to be a real dispute that Surewood had called 911, but the goodheartedness his lawyer had tried to establish with that fact was not enough to get the leaving the scene charge dropped.
It seemed to me that a lot of the prosecutor's attention was being paid to Surewood. While both defendants were charged with the same things (murder, second degree murder, reckless endangerment, reckless driving), it seemed that extra effort was being made to emphasize Surewood's role.
Testimonies of previous witnesses was brought up to prove that Surewood had "slammed" on his breaks in front of Ayon, causing Ayon's Maxima to go out of control, while Surewood's attorney maintained that Surewood had merely "tapped" his brakes to keep Ayon off his bumper.
After a lunch break, Korn called an expert witness, Robert Ockey. Ockey was a tall, courtly, soft-spoken former L.A.P.D. officer who in retirement had continued working in accident reconstruction. He claimed 25 years experience piecing together accidents after the fact, and he had his facts in order.
Ockey was convinced that there was no way Surewood had slammed on his brakes, and that damning tire marks on Sherman Way could not have belonged to Surewood's Camaro.
The problem was, and it was apparent, that Ockey was not a great public speaker. He was put out by Falco's bulldoggery, appeared to become quietly offended, and his testimony was subverted by his shyness.
Korn tried to establish that Ayon was thrown out of control by accelerating and trying to pass Surewood on the right, rather than because Surewood had stopped suddenly.
But after more than four hours of testimony, the judge was not convinced that Surewood should receive lesser charges than Ayon (although one charge, relating to direct grievous bodily injury, was dropped).
Judge Dunn was unconvinced that premeditated murder charges should be dropped against Surewood and Ayon.
"By virtue of the fact that they're driving vehicles, they know the power, force, and violence they produce," she said.
The charges against Surewood and Ayon, if made to stick, carry sentences of 25 years to life, according to California Penal Code sections 187-199:
(a) Every person guilty of murder in the first degree shall be
punished by death, imprisonment in the state prison for life without
the possibility of parole, or imprisonment in the state prison for a
term of 25 years to life.
I don't know what the precedent is in road rage or reckless driving cases in California, but it did feel like Barnes' defense was being shot down by the judge out of proportion to his co-defendant.
"It seemed like she made up her mind beforehand," Korn said later.
Previously: Brian Surewood held for murder; Brian Surewood reckless driving case continued to May 14
See also: California Penal CodesLabels: brian surewood, legal
posted by Gram the Man
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--Monday, May 12, 2008--
Striking while the iron is hot: Meet Rylie Cyris
 While Gary Glitter did not forward this picture to me, and while I support creative expression as fundamental to maintaining our First Amendment Freedoms and for getting chicks (since cologne won't adhere to my skin, I need to resort to Creative Expression), I am a little weirded out by the fact that a Michigan model has chosen to parody an underage celebrity's name with her nom de porn choice.
Rylie Cyris does not look any more or less like Hannah Montana than did Jessica Sweet or Hillary Scott look like Britney Rears, which just goes to show that there are other things at work in porn marketing than accuracy, but I do think that Ms. Cyris, 20, is the first person to choose a porn name based on the name of a minor.
Previously: XBiz panels tackle piracy, butt piracy; It was you all along, Britney
See also: Alternative ModelingLabels: agency, business, celebrities, commentary, legal, rylie cyris
posted by Gram the Man
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--Thursday, April 24, 2008--
Brian Surewood reckless driving case continued to May 14
 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 FoundationLabels: brian surewood, legal, news
posted by Gram the Man
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--Thursday, March 27, 2008--
Lou & Amy & Joe & Evanka: Coming to terms with your celebrity sex tape
 Two couples, both alike in dignity
In Chatsworth and Long Island where we lay our scene
From ancient scandal break to new celebrity
Which one deems wholesome and the other obscene
Joey Buttafuoco said, "I didn't know the place was wired for cameras."
Lou Bellera, husband of Amy Fisher, said, "We wanted to make a video of a couple in love."
Both men and their wives were the stars of sex tapes released within three months of each other, distributed by the same company, Red Light District, that sold sex tapes of Paris Hilton, Pam Anderson, and "Saved By the Bell"'s Dustin "Screech" Diamond.
But only one couple admits they did it on purpose. Bellera and Fisher shot their movie in front of a stationary camera Bellera had set up in their home and rented ones on Long Island. The Buttafuocos claim they were literally caught on tape in May, 2007.
"Here's how it happened," Evanka Buttafuoco, 45, told me. "Joseph had been out of jail for a month and we went over (adult director) Rob Spallone's house for a barbecue. (Spallone) was shooting something down by the pool and he had release forms that everyone entering the house had to sign. So we signed them. It was a standard thing like when you go to a club and have to sign a 'You may appear on film' form."
Evanka told me this after I had already watched the movie and had determined that it had been staged.
"So - and this was my fault - I wanted to take Joseph upstairs for a quickie, and we just searched around upstairs," Evanka said.
"And that was the room (Spallone) had set up with webcams or whatever," Joey Buttafuoco said.
The couple have a 40-minute sex scene, Evanka in high heels and leading the action. Joey, 52, seems grateful. He says "I love you" several times. This is the part that's real.
Spallone, so the story went, later combed through the "webcam" footage and discovered the Buttafuocos' tryst, and sold it to Red Light District using the blanket permission of the releases the Buttafuocos had signed on entering.
 I met the Buttafuocos on Hollywood Boulevard. We talked outside the Jimmy Kimmel Show theatre.
"So that wasn't staged?" I asked.
"No," Joey said. "We had no idea."
Joey met Evanka when the latter brought her friends' Land Rover into his Chatsworth car shop. He gave her his card, which didn't list his last name. Having worked for 17 years in car repossessions, Evanka exhausted most of the means at her disposal to turn up any information about him, but found nothing. Finally, when he took her to dinner, she first heard the story of Amy Fisher, "The Long Island Lolita."
"But that is so far behind us now," Evanka said. "Everybody is friends now. We just had dinner with Lou and Amy and we wish them the best."
Since losing his business for insurance fraud - resulting in the jail time that ended just before the filming of their tape - Joey has been a host on the Internet radio station Let's Talk Recovery.
"I've been sober since 1988," Buttafuoco said. "I didn't even use (drugs) all through 1992 and everything that happened then."
Because of the tools he learned to use in his recovery, Buttafuoco said, the release of the sex tape hasn't sent him over the edge.
"I'm the only one who's mad at Rob Spallone," Evanka said. "Joey's still friends with him."
Rob Spallone did not respond to e-mail requests for his side of the story.
After meeting the Buttafuocos, who were a charming couple, I watched the tape again and knew without a doubt that it had been staged. Webcam technology has not evolved to the point that it is capable of complex zooms.
"Yeah, they had a guy with a camera at the foot of the bed," a source with knowledge of the filming of "Joey Buttafuoco: Caught on Tape" said. "Maybe they just wanted some documentation of this time in their lives. Evanka's pretty hot."
Celebrity sex tapes are cheap to produce and, by virtue of their "caught on tape" marketing, are forgiven for any technical glitches. Paris Hilton's 1 Night in Paris sold millions but appeared to have been shot using the night vision goggles from "Silence of the Lambs." Vivid's Kim Kardashian: Superstar tape sold very well for the company despite having very little actual sex in it.
One element of celebrity sex tape culture is deniability. Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton both have disavowed knowledge that their tapes were being marketed by the rapper Ray J. and Rick Salomon, respectively.
Accepting money for appearing in a sex tape can be swept under the rug by denying you knew the tape was being made (Hilton) or that it would be sold (Kardashian and the Buttafuocos), because the bigger shame in a cool-obsessed culture is appearing to be attention-seeking.
 But Fisher and Bellera embrace their sex tape, as evidence by quotes like the following:
"I look even better in person than I did on the video," Bellera, 55, said. "But Amy looks great no matter what."
Every commercial porn title must gather signed documentation that its stars are over 18 and that they have agreed to be filmed for the working title of the movie in question. They must also provide identification like driver's licenses. Every "reality" porn, from Couples Seduce Teens to Bang Boat to (to a lesser degree) Girls Gone Wild has a file cabinet full of performer releases stating that each actor knew what was happening.
That the Buttafuocos didn't knowingly provide this information would have been grounds for a fantastic lawsuit if the events of May, 2007 had happened as the couple said they had.
"We came to a settlement (with Rob Spallone and Red Light District)," Joey Buttafuoco told me that day. "That's why we're more or less actively promoting the movie."
 From Long Island, Amy Fisher talks about her own sex tape (which, according to the managers of several local video stores and online outlets like Gamelink and Adult DVD Empire, is easily outselling the Buttafuoco tape) as a cathartic experience.
"People come up to me and tell me how good it was," she said. "People seek me out. A lot of my publicity because of 1992 (both couples use "1992" as shorthand) has been negative, but this has really been positive."
Bellera and Fisher have promoted the tape extensively and in only a few occasions, Bellera says, have interviewers failed to be polite.
"We tell people that we want to talk about today and to be positive," Bellera said. "And I establish ground rules before every interview." Fisher walked off the set of the Howard Stern show when the shock jock took a call from Joey Buttafuoco's still-sngry daughter.
"But we cleared that one up later," Bellera said.
 Both couples know that their celebrity is not from Buttafuoco's Internet radio job or Fisher's post-prison stint as a Long Island newspaper columnist, but both try not to dwell on the source of the celebrity that made their sex tapes a marketable commodity.
"Anything having to do with my 'story', so to speak, I can never earn a dime on," Fisher said. "I have learned through the years to make lemonade out of those lemons. I keep a positive attitude and make the best out of what I have to work with."
But why the Buttafuocos denied knowing their romp was being recorded and the Lou Belleras freely admitted it seems odd. Maybe the Buttafuocos weren't happy with the finished result and wanted to disavow it? They shouldn't have - they seem like they're very happy together.
"I suppose it'll be good to look back when I'm 70 and say 'My 45-year-old ass looked good,'" said Evanka.
Previously: Kim Kardashian Superstar; Screeched; Joey Buttafuoco Caught on Tape; Amy Fisher and Lou Bellera: How to quit worrying and learn to love your sex tape
See also: Amy Fisher, Joey ButtafuocoLabels: "red light district", amy fisher, celebrity, evanka buttafuoco, hype, interviews, joe francis, joey buttafuoco, kim kardashian, legal, lou bellera, paris hilton, vivid
posted by Gram the Man
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--Friday, March 07, 2008--
Mug shot revisited
 Since performer Kurt Lockwood's return to the porn industry after announcing his retirement last September, he has been appearing in transsexual and bisexual videos. According to friends, "he has been telling everyone he is only doing gay movies from now on."
But unless anything has changed in Lockwood's understanding of himself from one year ago this week, he only plays a gay man in movies.
On March 1, 2007, I arrived at the set of a movie only to be attacked by an irate Lockwood, who said I'd called him a "fag." He shoved me several times in the middle of the street, and I halfheartedly broke my thermos of lukewarm coffee on his glasses.
The cash-strapped production (the company went out of business soon after the movie was released), rather than boot Lockwood off the set, instead demanded that I and a blogger named Luke Ford leave, lest Lockwood become more upset.
It turns out I had arrived as the movie's director, Jennifer James, was trying to calm Lockwood down from a previous threat he had made against the manager of the filming location. The manager hadn't allowed Lockwood's dog in the building and Lockwood threatened to kick his ass.
The day was already going poorly for Kurt. He was an hour late and had just been told by Bo Kenney, owner of SexZ Pictures, that Lockwood's "The Real Boogie Nights" was unsalvageable, containing whole pages of dialogue plagiarized from P.T. Anderson's 1998 "Boogie Nights" and, according to a SexZ director, being "almost unrecognizable as a movie."
While there are a number of lifestyle heterosexual male performers who are "gay for pay," appearing in the (on the whole) more lucrative gay movies, Lockwood's boastful demeanor and frequent chatboard feuds with other adult industry employees drew criticism and scorn aimed at deflating his ego. Among these were numerous accusations of Lockwood's own homosexuality with liberal doses of the word "fag."
Unfortunately for me - otherwise I would have known what was coming - I had never called Lockwood a fag.
But I had written that, for a person who was once a go go dancer at gay clubs, who appeared in "pegging" movies, who had performed in all-male films aimed at gay consumers in the early part of his porn work and who, even in his stalled music career as "Stevie Sexyxrist," had appeared in flamboyant drag, it seemed unseemly for him to act surprised that people might suggest he might be gay himself and downright weird for him to protest his heterosexuality so violently.
I had the chance to tell Luke Ford he did not have my permission to post the video he said he'd taken of the assault, but he posted it as soon as he got home. I was driving to another set, irritated with James and freaked out by Lockwood's behavior, when I got a call from a former L.A. Times reporter who told me the video was on the web.
This is when the story evolved from something that could be dealt with privately in a day or two to something I still hear about. I filed battery charges against Lockwood with the L.A.P.D. Rampart Division and consulted a lawyer about suing the company that had allowed a demonstrably violent person to continue working after attacking an invited member of the press.
The lawyer correctly predicted that the company would have no money to pay me, "but there's a case there if you want one."
The day of the assault, Ford wrote Lockwood to ask him for his side of the story. Lockwood wrote back: "You're next."
Lockwood's friends, the performers Jack Lawrence and Josh Hunter, both speculated to me that Lockwood thought I was Ford, who had also never called him a fag but who had printed more defamatory material on his former website.
But I did not believe this, as I'd heard Kurt ask Jennifer James who I was before he started shoving.
I kept notes of my interviews with city employees and they gave me details of their conversations with James and Lockwood.
Lockwood was questioned by an L.A.P.D. detective two weeks after the incident. He brought the shirt that he'd taken off in the street, said that I'd burned him with coffee, and filed a battery charge against me. This was immediately dismissed.
Meanwhile, Jennifer James had called me to apologize, saying it was not her decision to have me kicked off the set. "My hands were tied," she said.
She had never given me any reason to believe her before; I'd determined after James had lied to me in an interview I'd published that I would never give her any publicity again, but I'd changed my mind, and then regretted it.
The movie's producer, a newcomer calling himself Brian Scott, also wrote me and offered to take me to dinner. I wrote back and asked him his real name and the physical address of his business. He didn't contact me again.
James was then interviewed by the L.A.P.D. She admitted that Lockwood had already appeared "out of control" earlier in the morning and that when he had gone after me, James was in the process of trying to calm him down.
When James was asked why she chose to have me and Ford leave the set rather than send Lockwood home, she said that the budget wouldn't allow it. Producer Scott said Lockwood couldn't be replaced that quickly, and the location had already been paid for. Later, James told others that she had "written the part" for Kurt and that, after the distractions had been sent away, he had done a "sizzling" scene.
In the coming months I dealt with two representatives of the City of Los Angeles. Both in their turn seemed at times bemused, fascinated, and repelled by the workings of the adult business.
The detective conducting the initial interviews, Dollie Swanson, would give me updates. She seemed, at times, shocked at the way people conducted themselves in the porn industry.
"In any other business people would bend over backwards to make sure you didn't write anything bad about them," Swanson told me after talking with James. "These people are on these chatboards all the time, getting into it."
I said that in a business where the margins are so small and where one director's product looked a lot like another's, any publicity is good publicity.
Swanson told me that Lockwood brought her printouts of my work - or had searched a computer in her presence - and was still not able to find evidence of my having called him a fag.
But performer Kami Andrews had. She'd had dealings with Lockwood and called him a fag, on my site, when she wrote a guest column while I was on vacation. But it was clearly marked that she was the writer.
"I find no evidence of your having called him that," she told me, "but there is enough on your site that clearly derides him about his sunglasses, and someone would be able to tell that you're making fun of him."
Lockwood told Swanson that sometimes others, such as girlfriends, wrote posts for him on chatboards. He said that the porn industry was homophobic and that it would not give him work if people thought he was gay.
"Is this true?" Swanson asked me.
I pointed out that since the incident, people had been mailing me undoctored photos of Lockwood in situations a reasonable person might call gay. These included pictures of his former band and some DVD covers. I also said that , whether or not it was true of Kurt's orientation, "gay" was a word that people used in the adult business to describe him - but not necessarily pejoratively.
I said that I don't think people call the director Chi Chi LaRue a fag, and she has often directed on the straight side of porn. I said that I didn't think people cared.
But, I said, it was not his sexuality that people had trouble with. It was this business of freaking out on people. I suggested that it was Lockwood who was sensitive about his sexuality, and that he shouldn't be.
But even if certain directors would no longer hire him for his belligerent behavior, enough would continue working with him because he's a handsome dude and fans like him.
"I'm looking at some of these stories on the websites," she said, "and it doesn't seem like you can really get blacklisted enough to keep someone from hiring you."
The police obtained statements from Abby Ehmann, who was with me on the set, from blogger and director Mike South, whom Lockwood had assaulted at the AVN Expo, and from radio host Wankus, whom Lockwood had assaulted - also on the "you called me a fag" pretext - at a memorial service for the director Jim Holliday.
Detective Swanson waded through Lockwood's extensive digital paper trail of heated backs and forths with detractors. The case was kicked up to Civil Court.
By this point I was wondering why the two major adult "news" organizations, AVN and XBiz, had not done a story about an assault on a movie set involving a well-known director, a well-known performer, and a former employee of both their companies. XBiz finally wrote something on March 12.
Then James and Scott went to various websites saying that people like me should not write whatever they wanted with impunity and that I should apologize for disrupting the set of the movie. Lockwood told XBiz that sldiers were dying in Iraq and people interested in this story should get a life.
The backlash against James, Scott, and Lockwood was immediate, harsh, and educational. But James, having hired publicist Jeff Mullen for the movie, marketed it as "porn's most dangerous movie" and capitalized on the assault.
I wrote Mullen that I would not print any of his press releases until he had distanced himself from James, which he has.
Other than people connected with the movie, the only person I know of who defended the production's actions in asking me to leave was the late Jim Holliday's friend, former porn performer Bill Margold.
The 60-something Margold comes from a time when porn was illegal, and believes in the strong bonds of something he calls "The Family of X."
Of my decision to call the cops he wrote:
"Obviously the man is clueless when it comes to matters of honor and loyalty toward a business that allows him to butter his daily bread." He went on to relate a story about working as a juvenile corrections officer and shaming tattlers rather than dealing with the people they told on. I do think the honor and loyalty approach is effective for organizations like the Mob, where there is an internal system of controls, but I didn't see any self-regulation happening on the set that day. Also, the Mob makes money - this movie lost it.
Margold works for an escort ad newspaper called the LAXPress. I'd been e-mailed one of their covers last summer that clearly identified the performer Hillary Scott as a hooker named Tiffany. I called the paper, said who I was, and was put on hold. The person who picked up the phone next had a familiar voice, but did not identify himself, but began lecturing immediately.
"You need to understand that when you allow your picture to be taken and you sign that release, that image doesn't belong to you," he said. "People can use it for anything."
"Is this Bill Margold?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Uh huh. Now, you know that's Hillary Scott, right? And not Tiffany the hooker?"
"Yes."
Family of X...
I was then interviewed by Deputy City Attorney Cydney Bensimon. Lockwood was supposed to be there with me but the City sent his notice to the wrong address. By that time - early April of 2007 - I had compiled my own evidence of Lockwood's behavior towards others and, for good measure, had brought printouts of some of his work that might be construed as gay.
"...but you know that doesn't matter," Bensimon said.
"Well, yes, but - "
"You could tell him his mother wears Army boots; he still has no right to hit you," she said.
She indicated to me that the case was probably not going anywhere; did I think I was in danger? Had Lockwood tried to contact me?
"Nope. Not even to apologize. But if he's the type of person who tries to beat up someone who didn't call him something, what might he try to do to all the people who actually did?"
"When I talk to him I will try to determine if he will do this sort of thing again."
I told her that I was concerned that, because Lockwood had lied to the detective (there was no way he got burned with coffee; I should know, because most of it had landed on me), any contrition he demonstrated (Lockwood and I were both raised Catholic) might similarly be an act.
"We'll see."
At the end of May I got a call from Attorney Bensimon. She had met with Lockwood on May 14.
"I'm not going forward with the claim," she said. "He admits he hit you, he admits he was out of control, he feels like a jerk for what he did. He's sorry."
I asked about a paper trail.
"He's in the system, but there is no 'criminal record' per se," she said. "There's no filing or conviction.
"He's going to be 38 in a week," she said. "How many years do any of these people have in your business?"
Well, several.
"I don't think he wants anything to do with you," she said.
The case was over, and the hubbub had died down. Still, whenever I see certain people they say "Call me a fag now!"
I tried several times to get Kurt Lockwood to talk for this story. I left two phone messages with numbers I'd been given, and at least three e-mails. I then mentioned it to a friend of his, and CCd him on this e-mail:
I congratulated Lockwood on the recent birth of his son, and mentioned that I had a new son in 2007, too.
...But we have some unfinished business. Whatever you were going through that day (or that year) should have not had anything to do with me, and you have not once apologized, publicly or privately, for it. Further, the police are aware you lied to them. Not that that matters (as we've seen), but I'm wondering if you want a forum to tell the truth. And I would like your apology to be part of it.
As you know, the story of that day got to be bigger than my getting jumped on the way to work. There were issues of how people cover their butts (figuratively) in this business as well as how profit margins are so low that they affect decision-making. We both know you should have been sent home that day, but they couldn't afford it. Now that company is bankrupt.
But I think it would do well for your image - and I know you're concerned about it, else you wouldn't have done what you did - to talk about the difference between gay and bi and gay for pay - and if any of those terms really mean anything anymore. I've noticed that you are venturing into the tranny/bi market again; I think you have an opportunity for that "legacy" (I think that was the word) you mentioned in your farewell AVN article to address the differences/similarities between porn and private life.
What do you think? No reply.
So Lockwood is working again, Jennifer James can be seen at various events with a camera, ostensibly in the process of prepping a reality show, and the company that made the movie no longer has a website save for a MySpace page that hasn't been updated. The movie came and went. A salesperson at the company that distributed the DVD told me that it did not sell many copies.
"The Real Boogie Nights," the movie that Lockwood was told wouldn't be released, actually was released with some intercession on the part of Ron Jeremy with his pal, P.T. Anderson.
I've started speaking to Jeff Mullen again because he thinks he's going to Hell anyway, so why bother being mad? I feel the same about Luke Ford, who also sort of retired from porn.
I am grateful to Abby Ehmann, Wankus, and especially Mike South for giving me a little perspective in the early days, as well as the myriad chatboard commenters who were a wealth of information. Darcy Alison (now of Videobox) and Justin Berthelsen of Gamelink also provided support in the form of the first of several replacement thermoses that came in the mail the next few weeks.
And I don't have anything against Lockwood. This is a hard business to be in sometimes; fame comes a lot easier than anywhere else, but it is directly proportional to scrutiny, and the scrutiny is fierce. The detective told him to stop reading stories about him if they get him so mad, but in case he's reading: No one cares about your orientation. You have a good shot at a worthwhile third act.
I had told Detective Swanson that, when I started writing about porn, it was with the thought that I would eventually write a book about it. After a year I lost interest in writing the type of book everyone seems to write about porn; wide-eyed, titillated, sardonic and dismissive. But after this situation started playing itself out I've been thinking about it again.
I will call it "Eon McKai."
One of the last things Attorney Bensimon said before she closed the case on myself and Lockwood shocked me, because it reduced everyone to the same (non-binding) judgment:
"I think you're both nice men."Labels: hillary scott, hype, jennifer james, kurt lockwood, legal, mike south, trademags, wankus
posted by Gram the Man
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--Thursday, February 07, 2008--
XBiz panels tackle piracy, butt piracy, Miley Cyrus
 Visitors to the Mylie Cyrus show at the nearby Disney-run El Capitan Theatre did not know Nina Hartley was talking about post-Federalist Papers cocksucking two doors down.
"...a little John Jay B.J.," she was saying.
Panelists at the XBiz Hollywood Conference addressed keeping track of revenues and HIV infection, the prolonged death of the DVD, and why the coming change of presidential administration might be as hostile to the adult industry as the old one.
"A Clinton presidency might result in the paying off of political favors to anti-porn feminists at our expense in the same way Bush did with the religious right," said Ernest Greene, editor of Hustler's Taboo Magazine and director of O: The Power of Submission.
Others acknowledged the money-making opportunities presented by harsh political climates.
"(Political) backlashes help because the cowards get out of the business," said Steven Scarborough of Hot House Entertainment.
Sharon Mitchell, founder of STD screener Adult Industry Medical, described battles with the L.A. County Health Department over preventing and controlling HIV outbreaks.
"Sometimes I think their concern is (actually) not solving the problem but proving to someone else that they are concerned with it," she said.
The air of adult conferences has always been charged with a feeling of doom, as participants fret about dwindling sales and political oppression. But the explosion of porn delivery systems in recent years, such as user-driven "-tube" sites, has people especially worried.
"People told me at the AVN convention, 'I've got the greatest -tube site for you that'll save you a lot of money,'" said Hustler vice president Michael Klein. "And I said 'Yes, it'll save us money because we won't have to rent a booth here next year. We'll be out of business."
But Ali Joone, president of Digital Playground, said that "traditional" media like DVDs still had a place in the market because upscale customers would still purchase high-definition DVDs.
"They'll buy blockbuster movies to watch on a big screen," he said, "because you're not going to get quality like that online in a while."
But when moderator and XBiz president Alec Helmy asked what the future held for a DVD-only business model, Joone responded, "I think that's like sticking with VHS."
And unlike the much-vaunted porn-driving-technology axiom from the 80's, online "Netflix of Porn" company WantedList founder Anh Tran expected mainstream media's tech choices to trickle down to porn rather than the other way around.
"How mainstream consumers choose eventually finds its way to porn," he said.
Tran reflects an aspect of the adult industry that views DVD as another delivery system instead of the one nail to hang the business on.
"We're in the media delivery business," he said, "DVD is just one aspect of that."
Typical of tradeshow breakout sessions anywhere, questions tended to be softball ones, and the dialogue was often mutually congratulatory.
But there were occasional spirited exchanges, where harder questions yielded real information.
XBiz publisher Tom Hymes asked Penthouse CEO Marc Bell (who would later win XBiz' Man of the Year award) about what differentiated Penthouse from Playboy.
"Playboy likes to avoid saying they're in the adult business," he said. "We're not afraid to."
But when Bell spun Penthouse as a unique media empire, Hymes shot back with "What about Hustler?"
The animated discussion that followed was one of the most interesting of the conference; it touched on the likelihood of more adult companies going public, whether or not Penthouse would take an active role in combatting anti-porn legislation ("If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem," Bell said, without actually answering the question) and the problem of getting Penthouse Pets to also do porn.
"Well, we want them all to shoot porn, too..." Bell said.
As panelists discussed consumer demand further splintering into niches and how to get people to pay for what they can increasingly get for free, one attendee stood to talk about the quality of studio porn.
"Why is it that user- |
