Luke Is Back

Sunday, June 6

Dr Sharon Mitchell, Expert Witness

Surprised you haven't picked up on the most inarguably appalling thing "Dr." Mitchell has done to date -- attempted to hire out as an "expert witness" to the defense team for the three pondscum teenage guys, one of the son of a multimillionaire assistant sheriff, who are accused of drugging and then BRTUALLY raping a classmate, and then videotaping it in a very lurid, media-heavy trial currently going on in Orange Co. Sharon says that despite the testimony of a police expert on toxiciology, the girl appeared to be "faking unconsciousness" to her and also claimed that everybody was probably in on it and aping that popular porn genre, "drug the girl unconscious and then stick lighted cigarettes and Snapple bottles up her snatch." Though I'm sure Anabolic, and Rob Black are even now mulling what the sales figures might be on such a series, to my knowledge there's no such genre here in the U.S. -- there was a fad in Japanese porn a few years back where guys would invade a sleeping girl's bedroom and have sex with her while she was asleep; Patrick Collins lifted the idea for a single volume back in the early '90s, but that was the closest thing I can figure ...

I notice that although everybody seems to have picked up on it, AVN has conveniently ignored it -- just as although Ross and Ford have dispatches on today's state hearing on safety on porn sets in Van Nuys, the "website of porn record" not only didn't make a big deal of the hearing in recent days, but has no article on the actual hearing today -- where Melissa Arroyo stormed out during "Dr." Sharon's speech with a bitter "AIM lied to me!"

Don't blame you if you're sticking to what you said and tired of taking all this heat ... believe me, I'm now regarded as some sort of "fellow traveller" for simply taking a basic moral position on these issues in public.

Does Mandating Use of Condoms Violate First Amendment?

From the LA Times: "First Amendment attorney Lawrence G. Walters, who was not at today's hearing, felt that even if legislation mandating condoms within the adult industry was ever signed into law, it would eventually be ruled unconstitutional. "I think that would constitute an unlawful infringement on Free Speech. In effect, it's a mandatory content inclusion that dramatically affects the expression in an erotic film," Walters said."

Rodger Jacobs writes:

So, in other words, Hollywood film makers, by inclusion in this warped bit of legalese, are violating their own expression of free speech by refusing to use real bullets in action films?

With that kind of logic snuff films should be perfectly legal, no?

Wait a minute, you say, don't be such a cynic. Murder is against the law under any circumstance.

No, I say. Not if committing an act of murder on camera is my artistic expression.

What drugs are these people doing?

Spontaneous Combustion

From Jeffrey Meyers biography of Edmund Wilson: "During his senior year [at Princeton], sitting in his favorite Morris chair with a serious book in his hand, he would suddenly have a spontenous ejaculation."

I hate it when that happens.

Why have there been no pornographic movies made about the life of America's greatest man of letters? He bedded Edna St. Vincent Millay, Anais Nin and Louise Bogan.

James DiGiorgio writes:

There might be only one guy who could make a biographically accurate porno about the sex life of edmund wilson... and that is i. but only because i am, more than likely, the only porn director who knows what a morris chair is -- and even more likely, the only one who has actually owned one... altho i sold it... and it fetched a nice price, i might add.

Sharon Mitchell Declares That Marc Wallice Knowingly Spread HIV And Forged His HIV Tests

I chat with a TV reporter at Friday's porn worker hearing. He's against government regulation in general. He's particularly against condom-mandatory regulation in porn. He thinks that is ridiculous. I said it was nice to meet a member of the newsmedia who did not automatically associate government regulation with "caring." All government regulations come at a price and they rarely accomplish what they intend.

I tell him that government authorities have no alternative but to investigate porn and consider regulation due to the enormous media attention given to porn's five HIV cases this Spring. Media attention drives government regulation. No media attention, no government regulation.

Last outbreak (five cases in 1998) there was almost no media attention and therefore no government regulation.

When the LA Times published a long piece in January 2003, LA County began investigating porn.

Assemblyman Paul Koretz gives no indication in the four-hour hearing that he is interested in anything other than workplace safety.

Paul: "We can all agree that the actors should know everything there is to know about their risk and prevention methods."

Dr. Jonathan Fielding: "Working with AIM over the year, they have been very open and responsive to adding [additional STD] screenings and looking for the risk and responding appropriately when that risk was defined. That was very helpful in moving the industry as far as it is today."

Sharon Mitchell introduces herself as "Dr. Sharon Mitchell."

I remember when I interviewed her back in 1998 and asked her about her credentials, she said she had some AIDS credential (takes two or three days to get, I believe) and was working on her PhD in human sexuality (while she was still working on her general education requirements for an undergraduate degree, which I do not believe she ever finished).

Sharon says she has a masters degree in public health and a doctorate in human sexuality.

Sharon's voice breaks repeatedly during her testimony and she appears ready to burst into tears. I think it is just her natural intensity combined with a severe case of nerves.

Sharon talks about the founding of AIM in 1998. "When these protocols were implemented, AIM found four other women positive at that time."

Actually, AIM was not created until September of 1998. The five HIV positive cases of 1998 occured from January to May. The entity that Sharon worked for then was Bill Margold's Protecting Adult Welfare (funded by the Free Speech Coalition).

Sharon: "...and a male patient zero [Marc Wallice] whom all the women had worked with and who was forging tests from county facilities and knowingly spreading the HIV virus."

Wow. Sharon just declared Marc knew he was HIV positive and knowingly spread the virus.

In the course of her counseling Marc in 1998, Sharon Mitchell had sex with him. There aren't many counselors who will do that for their HIV-positive patients. I bet Rob Spallone wouldn't.

Jeffery Douglas talks too long and the Assemblyman has to cut him off.

Miss Arroyo (tall slim blonde with tattoos who caught HIV from Darren James according to AIM) storms out of the hearing after Sharon Mitchell says the industry's favored PCR/DNA test will only pick up an HIV infection after two weeks or so of infection.

I noticed Miss Arroyo getting emotional whenever Sharon Mitchell spoke.

Miss Arroyo screams that she doesn't want to be before the TV cameras. She has a woman from the LA County Health Department chaperoning her around. Miss Arroyo is upset she wasn't personally told about the hearing and called to testify.

The TV cameramen chase her. Then they note her upset and stop. A couple reporters follow her.

Rob's outside. He hugs Miss Arroyo. He talks to the cameras on her behalf. They crowd around him. She interjects as he speaks.

Miss Arroyo: "That's the first time I heard that the test was no good. If the test is no good, then we should be using condoms.

"They [AIM] didn't call me and tell me my test was no good. They didn't invite me to the hearings."

She's crying. "I didn't want to f---ing talk because I didn't want to insult her. She didn't f---ing tell me that the test was f---ing bad."

Rob: "They [AIM] don't care about nothing but the money. They want to test every two weeks? More money."

Miss Arroyo: "What's the point if the test is no good?"

Duke: "What test doesn't work?"

Rob: "The PCR/DNA."

Duke: "But that's her [Sharon's] favorite test."

Rob: "She should stick it up her ass and stop patting herself on the back."

Porners love being on camera. They love the attention. I don't notice any porner approaching a member of the mainstream media. I don't approach the media. The media comes to us. We like it. It makes us feel important, as though we are truly alive, starring in our own movie.

Duke: "Rob, you can't say those words on TV."

Channel 7 reporter Carlos Granda. "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it."

NBC Dateline producer Susan Leibowitz, a tiny little thing with long hair, is monitoring the hearing.

"Who are you?" she asks.

"Duke Floored," I say. "Who are you?"

We swap cards.

Rob rants to the cameras about Sharon taking too long to notify companies about Darren James' HIV positive test. He tested on a Friday. Rob says an HIV positive result came back Saturday or Monday but Sharon did not notify people until Tuesday (twelve hours after Gene Ross broke the news on Adultfyi).

"The reason she told us she was hiding something was that the big companies would be upset if there was a false positive. That wasn't more important than people who were HIV [positive] out there working? No."

Miss Arroyo: "She's telling people this is not an epidemic. She's not telling people about the state of mind people are in. Afterwards, you are going to need counseling.

"I'm going to beat my HIV but that woman gave it to me. That woman enables people.

"She told the [gossip] sites my real f---ing name and that I'm HIV positive. And that it's O.K. to put my picture up. Isn't that against the law? But it's not against the law because Sharon Mitchell said it's O.K. It's not against the law because we tested at AIM [and have to sign certain privacy rights away.]

"Now she's telling people it's O.K. to shoot without condoms. No it's not. It's time to start protecting people. Think about somebody who watched that movie [where no condoms are used].

"I want to sue her for using my real name. Five seconds after she told me I was positive, she made a phone call [to the gossip sites]. She doesn't protect people with HIV."

Duke: "What was wrong your test?"

Miss Arroyo: "There was nothing wrong with my test. There was something wrong with Darren James's test. He shot for three weeks on a test that said he was negative when he was positive. Her PCR test didn't pick it up."

Duke: "You worked with Darren James?"

Miss Arroyo: "Yeah, I got HIV from him."

Reporter to Rob: "Do you worry about..."

Rob: "Listen. I worry about it when they come in my office and use my door. When they put their hands on the food or the telephone."

After finishing her testifying, Sharon Mitchell steps outside for a cigarette break. The reporter surround her. She says everybody in porn should use condoms.

Reporter: "But the system failed Miss Arroyo."

Sharon: "The system in place worked. She had the option to use a condom. She chose not to use a condom."

Rob interrupts Sharon and says AIM is all about the money.

Rob: "Miss Arroyo did not choose not to wear a condom."

Warren Wilson from Channel 5 says, "Sir, let her speak. I want to listen to her and not you."

A minute later, Warren asks Rob for his side. Rob won't talk to him.

Warren says fine. He doesn't want to him then. He doesn't need to talk to anybody.

Rob asks me to get Bill Margold. I do but nobody tries to interview him. I tell Warren that Bill has been in porn for 30 years. Warren 's not interested. Bill returns inside.

TV reporter: "Is there anything they could've done to save that woman [Miss Arroyo]?"

Rob: "I don't believe so."

Reporters deflate and leave.

I tell Suze Randall, "Weren't you a centerfold?"

"You're not that old," she replies. She was in Playboy and Hustler in the 1970s.

She says I look like some Spanish actor.

Black TV Reporter Warren Wilson, Lucky To Have A Job, Whines About Discrimination

www.l-keford.net:

Kevin Roderick at LA Observed.com reports:

Veteran Channel 5 reporter Warren Wilson has hired civil rights attorney Melanie Lomax to press claims that the station is discriminating against him in salary and assignments, the Wave newspapers report today. Wilson, 69, has been with KTLA for 20 years without a promotion and has worked the last six months without a contract, the story says. Lomax told the Wave papers that the station added a special clause to his contract last year saying that he could be fired if he "complains or voices any displeasure with his assignments."

I worked at KTLA for several months in the fall of 1997. Warren Wilson was known around the station as a horrible man. Rude, nasty, and unethical. He'd been reprimanded several times by station management, who were exceedingly tolerant of their employees. I remember the receptionist was a frequently rude woman, with a severe limp, who'd yell at callers and hang up on them.

Warren Wilson did a story about some guy, set him up with a particular lawyer, then went after either the lawyer/or guy in question for a payoff.

If you read RonFineman.com, you know Wilson is a shoddy reporter who's lucky to have a job. There are a lot of people working at KTLA who would never last at any other major TV station.

KTLA is an awesome place to work. I so wanted to get taken on permanently there in 1997. They paid me well as a temp and treated me well. Management bends over backwards to be fair and kind. Employee morale is high. Most people at KTLA are super. I remember this black female TV reporter who was just adorable and made everybody relax and laugh, cutting across color lines. I am known to utter non-PC sentiments but this woman just made all my crap go away.

AVN Ignores Biggest Story In Worker Safety Meeting

Scott Ross reports and makes no mention of Miss Arroyo's angry outburst against Sharon Mitchell and AIM. I guess criticisms of AIM are verboten in AVN. There's something Stalinist in the way AVN writes people out of Industry history.

Videotaping Your Porn Star Escort Session

Fast Eddie writes: Before I offer any videotaping hints, let me start by saying that I ALWAYS ask the PSE in advance if it's all right to take photos and/or videotape, and I ALWAYS offer and provide a signed disclaimer stating that unless the lady gives explicit permission, any photographs and/or videos taken are for my own personal use and will NOT be sold, shown or distributed in any way, including but not limited to the internet. I further state that any and all copyrights belong the the lady. THIS IS A KEY TO PUTTING THE PSE AT EASE AND ALLOWING HER TO FEEL COMFORTABLE ENOUGH TO PERMIT YOU TO FILM THE SESSION.

Many ladies who at first declined to be taped changed their minds after I offered to provide the disclaimer. If I'm not able to speak directly with the lady prior to meeting her, I bring the camera(s) with me... but this is also very important... I NEVER take the camera out of the bag before asking and showing her the disclaimer. If it's not too inconvenient, I actually leave the camera bag in the car until I've shown her the form and received her permission. And after asking, either before or when we meet, if she refuses, I NEVER push the issue or pressure her. It can make the rest of the evening awkward. At the conclusion of our time together, I ask if she'd LIKE me to post any of the photos to my yahoo groups... some of the ladies see it as good self-promotion and will be happy to let you; sometimes they even ask me to do it before I ask them, and sometimes they would prefer to keep them private. Again, I don't push the issue.

All the photos I've posted anywhere on the net were at the request or with the explicit permission of the lady appearing in them. Some pornstars have no problem with you videotaping and will not even ask for the disclaimer. A few (like Sara Jay), provides their OWN disclaimer for you to sign. Jody Moore actually has her own camcorder and tapes all of her meetings and then gives the tape to her client, to save (for personal use) or destroy. Most of the PSEs I've met will allow taping free or for a nominal charge and some will ask for an additional fee, anywhere up to $1000. Now, I never negotiate a PSE's rate for a meeting, but I will negotiate the videotaping rates. Personally, I feel a couple of hundred extra bucks is reasonable, but I won't pay any more than that. I reason (and I'd love to hear the views of some of the ladies who read these threads - Patricia?) that if you're not distributing the product, it's "found" money for the lady... she's doing no extra work... and I'm not benefitting financially, so I just don't feel it's worth more than a few hundred more. But that's just my opinion.

I'm sure some might feel differently. Now, on to the actual technical aspects of shooting the video... When I first started out, I had a cheap Sony 8mm camera... not even digital. I mounted it on a tripod and pretty much left it there for most of the first round which was usually the foreplay and a BJ to completion (my completion - not necessarily the "completion" that term usually connotates in this hobby). Before I popped, I'd stop the lady to take the camera and hold it by hand for a POV finish. Then I'd mount it back on the tripod and set it at a medium shot, (usually a cowgirl FS shot from the rear quarter) for whatever time was left. The thing is, if you caught up in trying to make a quasi- professional tape, it ruins the fun of the session, which is the primary reason for being there to begin with. If I'm only seeing the lady for an hour, I usually just tripod mount the camcorder, try to set it for the best overall angle, and forget about it. I'll change our orientation on the bed to get the most revealing overall shot and I'll use my still camera for a few hand-held POV shots at the end of the BJ. That's the least obtrusive way to get the best possible results without losing focus on what's really important - the fun! If I'm doing a multi-hour meeting, which I vastly prefer when I can afford it, (hell, who doesn't?), I'll spend the first hour or so trying to make the video as professional as I can... as I said, it takes a lot of fun out of the actual sex... you're stopping and starting, jumping up to change the camera placement, frequently changing positions and trying to watch the viewfinder at the same time... all-the-while trying to keep wood.

Viagra becomes an important accessory - lol. But with three hours, the rest of the time I can concentrate on just having fun. Recently I bought a Canon GL2 "prosumer" camera. The Canon, along with the Sony DVC-2000 (now the 2100) are the two cameras used extensively by a lot of the gonzo producers... Seemore Butts uses the Sony, I believe. They have the resolution to make full-screen DVDs of equal quality to what you get on gonzo videos. These camcorders retail for about $3000, but you can get them on the internet for as low as around $1800 for the Canon and around $2100 for the Sony.

I chose the Canon because it got a best buy rating on CNET, even over the Sony, it was a couple hundred bucks cheaper, plus a coporate video sales rep told me the Canon was built better. I'm not rich, regardless of what many of you think, so it took me almost three years to be able to afford it. I also added an extremely useful device made by Sunpak called the AP- 200. You mount the camera to it, then mount the Sunpak to the tripod; it's a wireless remote device that lets you pan and scan the camera, and if your camcorder is equipped with a "LANC" connection (which most of the prosumer camcorders are), it will also let you zoom in and out and pause the tape with the same remote. It's realtively cheap and the best 150 bucks I ever spent! As to lighting, both the Canon and particularly the Sony are very sensitive and do a great job using ambient lighting. In fact the Sony could probably produce a good video by candlelight! If you want to go ape-sh-t, you can spend a couple of thousand bucks for a professional lighting system, including key lights and soft boxes, but you can buy a decent two or three light system on ebay for about $400.

I also use a Sony DCF-717 5.2 megapixel digital camera to take still photos... about $550 "street" price which I bought about a year and a half ago. Now there are 6 or 7 megapixel cameras available for that price. The Sony DCF-818 is 8 megapixels for around 700, and the new Canon digital is awesome, with interchangable lenses and I think almost 9 megapixels for about a grand. If you're not planning on making large prints, both the Canon and Sony camcorders have still photo capability, but the resolution is only around 3 megapixels. Perfectly fine for viewing the shots on the computer and for making prints up to about 4" x 6", so if that's all you need you can save money, space and weight and just use the camcorder's photo capabilities. I used the above described equipment to shoot some glamour stills and a BJ video with Holly Body when she was in Philly last week. Holly loves to pose for glamour nude stills - she's a natural in front of the camera, but she doesn't allow videotaping (she says they're "out there forever"), showever, she allowed me to videotape the BJ strictly for her to use on her website. In my opinion they turned out great. I'll post one of the still photos I took on the home page after I finish this reply... you be the judge.

For my videos, I use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit and Adobe Encore for DVD authoring. These programs are around $600 and $400 respectively, but you can find "OEM" versions (without documentation or technical support) on the internet for about $70 each! (Believe it or not, they come from Russia and/or Eastern Europe). If you're uncomfortable about using your credit card to purchase products from Russia over the net, a less expensive but very good alternative is a number of products from a company called Pinnacle that aren't quite as sophisticated as the Adobe products but still very capable of producing gonzo-grade DVDs, and the learning curve is much quicker. I use one called "Dazzle" that had the software plus an analog-to- digital capture device so I can download and edit my analog 8mm tapes on my computer. About $150 from Best Buy with the converter. The software by itself is around $100. For that price it's a surprisingly sophisticated and versitile product. When I get a chance, I'll put together a small example from one of my meetings (with a lady that has given me permission) and post it to the file section of this group. Keep in mind that the overall quality won't be that hot because it's an 8mm analog tape, but it'll serve as an example of the editing capabilities of the Pinnacle software. Ultimately I'd like to add a small monitor (10 to 13 inches), because I'm half-blind and I can't really see the 2.5" LCD viewfinder on the camera.

My wish-list also includes another camcorder, probably a Sony TVR-950, a cheaper and smaller version of the 2100 but close in quality, mostly for hand held POV shots so I don't have to stop to take the Canon (which is a lot bulkier) off of the tripod. I'll probably eventually add a lighting set-up as well. One important thing to keep in mind is that two camcorders, a digital camera, a lighting kit and a monitor is a lot of sh-t to lug from a parking lot and across a hotel lobby, and will probably attract some attention unless you invest in luggage to carry it all. If and when I add the additional equipment, it'll be mostly because I'm a techno-geek; I love electronic gadgets and I really enjoy the process of shooting, editing and making the DVDs with full menus and chapters... And of course, I have a sh-t-load of fun watching them afterwards too! Hey, who knows? Maybe someday you'll be buying DVDs made by "Fast Eddie Productions" - lol.

David Aaron Clark's Pornographer's Journal

David Aaron Clark writes:

It can be a very narrow line to balance on, trying to be both a decent human being and a successful pornographer - quite a lot of humanity believes the two states cannot co-exist within the same soul . my belief that they can has been sorely tested by the last couple of months here in f-ckworld . but as they say, it's not how men act in times of peace that determine their character, but in times of crisis .

Though the controversy over the state that this overcrowded industry has devolved to continues to be batted about, it seems all the strong emotions are dying down, as everyone hunkers back down to making a living. It's been a bit harder for me, since as those without the capacity to do so enjoy noting, I tend to "think too much." What those who simply take my public persona at its aggressive face value fail to see is that as much as I question the intentions and ends of those around me, I question myself twice as mercilessly.

For me, getting back to shooting has not been a simple matter of "the moratorium's over, commence churning out the product." Though Annie Cruz has come out on top, a certain degree of her teenage innocence evaporated and has been replaced by the first in a series of hard-won lessons called the path of life, the spectacle of watching her stumble into the hungry meatgrinder had destroyed much of my sense of fun at what it is we do here in f-ckworld; reading the comments of the actresses I used to admire before I became a director on how much the landscape has changed for the more brutal and dehumanizing since their day has confirmed that It's Not Just Me. Thanks, Patricia Kennedy - you always did have a lot of good old southern belle common sense ..

Anyway, the good news is that I finally found my way back in - and as it has often been in my life, when I have felt so totally disengaged with disgust at the grimy self-interests flooding the plains around me, it's a new muse that has made me look up from the gutters .

Veronica Lynn. Holy Jesus . She actually came into Video Team when I wasn't around several weeks ago, and I was intrigued enough not by her pics but by what my pal Keith B., who took the Polaroids, described as her general attitude. I thought about filming her in a girl/girl, but ultimately decided I couldn't shoot anything at that time, no matter what the rationalization . unlike half of the other directors in this business, who I know I'll never look at in quite the same way again.

But I got down to business last week, pulled out the VX2000 and started aiming it. I'm damn rusty right now, but by the second day of filming Veronica the grace was beginning to creep back in - that gravity-defying relationship between camera and subject, of which at the best of times I feel like nothing more than a facilitator. I'm filming her a few more times over the next couple of weeks, because yes, she has that much going on with her besides her striking physical beauty. At 20, she's already earned her bachelor's from San Diego State in Criminal Justice, which puts her intellectually and in terms of real-world credentials way ahead of most of the mooks who are shooting her.

She's a deft blend of Filipina, Japanese and Brazilian; you can see it all in her smile - not to mention her firm, round little ass - but not see where the one influence ends and the other begins. She's a sweetheart with a Kali-girl squeak but a strong, confident personality. And she's set a bunch of boundaries about what she will and won't do to earn a screen fee that will make the hacks who base their success on nothing but refusing to shoot girls unless they'll have their ass torn up for the sake of a grand quiver with outrage.

But f-ck those losers. Veronica Lynn is the sexiest girl I've had the pleasure to shoot in a long time, and like the best of them - Loni, Kylie Rey, Lucy Lee - she has become an instant favorite. Bless her ballsy little "semi-nympho" heart, and the hard head which I hope will keep her eyes on the prize she wants, as opposed to giving in to someone else's easiest, most shallow exploitation of her considerable charms.

I know there's much grumbling among the anal-obsessed Neanderthals over a new awareness among many actresses, old and new, that it's THEIR health and life that's at stake here, not those of greedy producers who will all go on blithely to the next disposable set of holes when the current sets wear out their welcome or their elasticitiy, whichever comes first . I say, bravo - you go, girls! The day that I see these producers who try to claim that anal creampies and such are not a problem start taking loads up their asses is the day I concede that they're not hypocrites. Until then .

What's sexy is bringing out the best in a woman's sexuality, not turning her into an anonymous, disposable f-ckhole. And if you think that the latter actually is the finest expression of female sexuality, suddenly I find myself standing on the opposite side of the fence from you. I'm all for freedom of expression, and have indeed fought those fights during my life on more pertinent grounds than porn, but that doesn't mean I have to approve of the kind of absolute garbage so many of my fine "colleagues" have been churning out over the last couple of years. Just because you can get away with helping to spoil someone's life so you can move an extra thousand units doesn't mean you have the right.

But I do go on . it's time to make porn again, which I am discovering once more how to love. Thanks, Veronica; I hope there are many more like you on the way! And it's no accident that performers like Loni and Kylie, who will never be "meatholes" to me but instead valuable and good friends, helped me get through all this psychologically . if only half of the producers and snotty young directors in this business had an iota of the strength and maturity these two exhibit daily, this benighted industry wouldn't be in quite the pickle it is right now .

I'm putting up my first couple moments with her on the site this week; an interview, a solo girl, a BJ, and a rapturous two-minute music video that's the first thing I've created in a few months that's just full of the joy and mystery of female beauty witnessed. A dance to Spring, indeed .

Worker Health and Safety in the Adult Film Industry Public Hearing

Friday, June 4, in Van Nuys.

I walk in and sign in after Caitlin Liu from The LA Times.

We're all given hefty information packets.

Assemblyman Paul Koretz from the Labor and Employment committee is understandably ignorant about how the porn industry works but he's a good and gentle moderator.

Rob Spallone's cell phone keeps going off and he keeps answering it. This draws a rebuke from Koretz who asks everyone in the room to turn their phones off.

Rob's whispers travel far around the room.

Paul says that if we regulate porn too much, production might go underground or leave the state. If we don't do anything, worker safety is at risk.

Throughout the day, I hear the industry only spoken of in public health terms. Nobody invokes moral condemnation of sex work.

Paul: "They [porn performers] deserve each and every protection granted to other employees in CA. They deserve fair wages and hours and decent working conditions. They deserve clean and safe workplaces. They deserve to be able to do their jobs without fearing for their health."

Vicky Heza, Deputy Chief for Enforcement, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CAL-OSHA), says that her department only monitors workplaces where there is an employer-employee relationship. If porn performers are independent contractors, then they are out of the scope of her department.

Vicky says CAL-OSHA should not be expected to set the standards for workplace safety in porn but that this matter must be legislated.

She gives a sober and humble presentation. She makes no lunge for the spotlight.

She says CAL-OSHA has done inspections since the April outbreak. She's working with LA County.

Vicky says she does not know what percentage of porn performers are employees and which are independent contractors. There are various tests, such as does a performer get paid by a payroll check or a 1099 contractor form.

Dr. Jonathan Fielding speaks:

Why should workers in the adult film industry be subjected to life-threatening incurable diseases as a condition of work, when those diseases are preventable?

We should not allow a sex worker to have a high risk sexual encounter without a condom.

1. We should require condom use for all high risk sexual encounters (oral, anal and vaginal).

2. We should have screening requirements for STDs set by the state and paid for by the industry and offering vacinations for preventable conditions.

3. Mandate education and training for all industry performers.

4. Have high quality monitoring to ensure compliance and paid for by the industry.

These measures would send an unmistakable message to [porn's] millions of viewers that sex between non-monogamous partners should always be safe sex.

County health officials such as Dr. Fielding have positive regard for AIM and apparently have worked with AIM for years.

The most dramatic moment occurred around noon when Miss Arroyo, who appeared deeply emotional throughout Sharon Mitchell's testimony, stormed out of the hearing, claiming that AIM had lied to her.

The TV cameras followed her. Miss Arroyo ran away. Then came back and spoke for a few minutes, denouncing Sharon Mitchell for revealing her real name when she broke the news about a month ago that the tall blonde had tested HIV positive.

Several TV reports from Channels 2, 5, 7, 9, interviewed Miss Arroyo and Rob Spallone, who was at her side.

Twenty minutes later, they interviewed Sharon Mitchell. Or they tried to. Rob Spallone yelled out his opinions while they tried to talk to Sharon. Warren , a black reporter from Channel 5 told Spallone to shut up.

A few minutes later, Warren Wilson (a black guy almost 70 years old) attempted to interview Rob but Rob wouldn't have any part of it. At 10 a.m., I introduced them to each other and Rob went off saying the industry was all full off AIDS.

Seymore Butts did not look happy having to sit through three hours of testimony before he could say his piece on condom-mandatory production.

Mr. Marcus stood still and kept quiet.

Caitlin Liu, a lawyer and reporter from The Los Angeles Times, stayed for the entire hearing, sitting next to an important doctor.

The person with the most stage presence and who made the most compelling case (I have no axe to grind in any direction on these issues) was Dr. Jonathan Fielding, M.D., Director of Public Health, Los Angeles County. He passionately argued for four things, including condom-mandatory productions, and mandatory education for performers.

I did not hear one negative thing said about AIM (Adult Industry Medicine) or Sharon Mitchell from those who testified.

As Kat Sunlove testifies, Rob says, "She's out of her mind."

A publisher, dominatrix, and lobbyist, Kat Sunlove was having a sexual interaction with Jeffrey Douglas in a hotel room about eight years ago that reporter Scott Collins stumbled into. He promised not to write about it.

The TV reporters and other media generally did not who was who in the room. Most of them had not been at the April 22nd AIM press conference at the Universal Hilton.

Gail Bolan, M.D., Chief STD Control Branch, Prevention Services, of the California Department of Health Services, says that her department (with some exceptions) only acts when workers complain and that until now there have been no worker complaints.

I do not believe her. I am positive there have been porn stars over the past eight years who've complained about working conditions in porn. Tony Tedeschi says he's made many calls to CAL-OSHA and nobody there has taken him seriously.

Dr. Bolan says CAL-OSHA is investigating working conditions in porn.

Wherever Rob goes, he creates a circus. If there's media around, they will come to him.

They're pleased that he presents a contrary voice to the porn establishment. I told the TV guys off camera, when they asked me to identify the players, that Mitchell, Sunlove, Douglas et al were the porn establishment and that Spallone, Gene Ross, Bill Margold were rebels who'd probably give more colorful quotes.

The TV guys were loving Spallone until one guy insistently pushed Rob if anything could've been done to prevent Miss Aroyo's HIV infection.

"No," said Rob and the media crowd deflated. If he had said yes, that would've been a big story and they would've puffed him high.

The media thing that pushed this HIV outbreak to greater prominence than the ones before was the January 2003 LA Times piece by PJ Hufstutter on the lack of regulations for porn performers. That animals in Hollywood productions are treated better and with more regulation.

That launched LA County investigations into porn.

All the TV guys leave before 1PM.

Rob's friendly with Suze Randall, a big supporter of AIM. Rob and Suze have similarly outrageous personalities.

As Jeffrey Douglas walks out, Rob says, "How are you doing?"

Jeffrey ignores him.

Rob's antsy. He's not made for attending these sorts of long boring meetings. Neither am I.

As with 99% of public figures who are drawn into porn, Assemblyman Paul Koretz repeatedly emphasizes that he knows little about porn and that he has never seen any of Nina Hartley's body of work.

Gene Ross reports:

Rob Spallone walked into the hearing today for Worker Health and Safety in the Adult Business wanting his doctor's coat. Every time someone new went to speak before the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment which was chaired by Paul Koretz, Spallone nudged me asking who this person or that person was. Just to f-ck with him, I told Spallone it was a doctor. "Everybody's a f-ckin' doctah," Spalone says.

At one point, Seymore Butts rose out of his chair and was ruled out of order when he said that some remarks by Free Speech's Kat Sunlove didn't reflect the thinking of the entire board of Free Speech.

Seymore Butts AKA Adam Glasser, Miss Aroyo (HIV positive porn star)

Dr. Jonathan Fielding talks to TV men

Suze Randall

Miss Aroyo

Bill Margold, Rob Spallone in background

Gene Ross, Rob, Bill

Mr Marcus

Miss Aroyo, Rob Spallone

Rob Spallone

Sharon Mitchell

Mr Marcus, Suze Randall, Rob Spallone

Judge Rules That Voice Media Vs New Destiny Must Go To Arbitration

Request by New Destiny (Homegrown) for a Temporary Restraining Order denied.

Ron Levi (owner of Voice Media and the key figure for years behind CECash, Cybererotica and that network) had no comment Friday afternoon.

Spike Goldberg, CEO of Homegrown Video, writes:

Just a couple of comments in light of the judges order:

1. This ruling does not reflect at all on the merits.

2. The Court ordered New Destiny to arbitration. We only disputed this as to the copyright claim. We agreed, as referenced in the Order, that New Destiny would arbitrate against all defendants if the Court upheld the arb clause as to VMI.

3. Xplor is not ordered to arbitration. Xplor will and is entitled to return to federal court once the New Destiny arbitration is over.

4. The Court stayed the action as to Xplor pending the New Destiny arbitration. We think this ruling was wrong without injunctive relief and are reviewing what steps we will take in this regard.

5. The Court did not deny the injunction. As noted on the Order face page, it "declined" to rule re the injunction at this time because it believes the arbitrator should make this ruling. Indeed, at the hearing, the Court stated that it was "very likely" it would have granted the TRO and an injunction absent the arbitration provision.

6. We believe the Court erred in declining to rule on the injunction, especially as to Xplor, which is not subject to arbitration. We are reviewing what steps to take as to this aspect of the ruling at this time.

7. The Court Order references that in light of VMI dissolving as a corporation, Ron Levi is individually liable now on our claims against VMI.

8. Ron Levi desperately wanted to avoid the scrutiny of federal court. We are happy to try our case in any forum and are very confident of prevailing on the merits and walking away with a significant judgment.

Industry observers say that Homegrown will appeal and that they might sue Ron Levi personally and force full disclosure of who is behind "Trade News Corporation," which owns and operates the CE juggernaut.

Here's a transcript of the April 29, 2004 Plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction defendants' motion to compel arbitration and to stay all four proceedings.

GFY thread

AVN report

On Set Of Bang My Tight White Ass

I run into Destiny DeVille, a dark girl from England.

She says she got choked (on the set of Cream Passion Pies) by big black guy LT last night and she loved it. She almost passed out. She says he didn't realize she couldn't breathe.

She's moved on from her skinhead boyfriend Aaron, 24, in England. "We split up. I met somebody else out here but he's involved with somebody else. He's a director.

"I'm still talking to my boyfriend. We're still trying to work things out. He was arranging with my mom and dad for me to get married to him in a few weeks. He wanted me to wear a white dress and I wanted red."

"Have you told him that you are doing scenes out here?" I ask.

"No." She laughs.

"Tell him that you did your first anal."

"I did two and I quit. It was bad."

"Have you done a DP?"

"What's a DP?"

No, she hasn't.

"Has anyone hurt you physically or emotionally?"

"Yes, he [the American director] did. Last night."

"Have your breasts gotten bigger?"

She laughs. "I think so. I think it's the birth control pills, even though I forget to take them."

She finds her pills and takes one.

"Did you take one yesterday?"

"I'm not sure. Umm, I'm sure I did. I can't remember."

Destiny says she has not had sex outside of work on this trip to the US, though she did give the director she likes a blowjob. In the past three weeks, she's been on three dates.

"Are you sore from all the sex you've been having?"

"No. I haven't been doing that much sex.

"I saw what you wrote about me on the Internet. That my boyfriend always beat me. Always. That was nasty."

"I was only trying to write a good story."

"That was good. I liked it. I like everything you write about me. You make me feel so special. Now get on the bed."

She laughs and then becomes pensive. "I feel like I'm going to get really emotional about [the American director]. I may have to keep my distance from him because I know it's just a total fling. For him, it's a fling."

Her ex-boyfriend Aaron flies in next week. "He took an overdose the other day. I think he's into heroin. They took him to the hospital. I think we'll end up back together. I've been with him since I was 14. I'll have to do the right thing and marry him."

"Why would you want to marry someone so unstable?"

"Because I know he's a good person and he can change."

"Just because he goes around beating up blacks..."

"He doesn't go around beating up blacks. He beats up white people as well. If anyone gives me a dirty look, he'll beat them up."

First scene of the day matches Trinity James with black guy LT. Ron has to stop the shoot ten minutes in because Bill Diehl must shoot some stills. But Bill is nowhere in sight. He's probably off eating breakfast. Production manager Kenny Carolina tracks Bill down 20 minutes later.

LT took great exception a few weeks ago to an article by AVN's Scott Ross alleging he broke the quarantine. I believe LT threatened Scott's life and I've heard it rumored (I have no evidence for the truth of this rumor) that Scott Ross left town because of his threat.

Lennox, wearing a tight little skirt, wants someone to walk her across the street because she believes guys will bother her 'cause she's so sexy.

Nobody wants to walk her across the street. She leaves on her own.

Kenny: "She could walk across that street a hundred times and nobody would bother her except to yell, 'Get out of the way.'"

Lowdown Productions series "Bang My Tight White Ass" is supposed to feature white girls getting sodomized by black guys. But Lennox isn't white (she's adopted so she does not know her ethnic composition) and her scene partner Valentino isn't black.

Duke to Lennox: "Don't you smoke?"

Lennox: "I only smoked when I did coke. Now I don't do coke, so I don't smoke.

"You're bad. You write down everything you hear."

Lennox sips her ritual Red Bull before her scene. It peps her up with the sugar and caffeine.

A member of the crew says, "As soon as Valentino comes and sits down to do his paperwork, hand him some lube and tell him to start beating it, so that we can get a pop shot two hours later."

I've been on sets where the crew has had to wait for what seemed like an hour or two for Valentino to pop.

Lennox is also skeptical about Valentino's ability to come through.

Ron Sullivan walks across the street to buy some materials (Mylanta) to make fake cum in case Valentino can't pop.

1PM. Lennox: "I have a doctor's appointment at 3 p.m."

Pandora Dreams comes by for a still shoot for an escort site. They won't use her face, just her body. She has natural D cup breasts.

A dancer for three years, she's been in porn three months, appearing in about 20 scenes. Her work slowed when she announced she was condom only. "I'm not in this for the money," she says. "I'm not in it so somebody else can make a million dollars while I catch AIDS and die."

Why are you in porn then?

"For the attention."

Pandora used to stay at this house. She didn't realize that people shot porn on her bed until a roommate told her. Pandora then kept her room a mess so nobody could shoot in there.

Duane Cummings (small black guy) asks Kenny if he can shoot with Lennox. Kenny says no.

"May I ask why?" says Duane.

"Because the girl you are scheduled to shoot with wants a small dick."

"You're a funny guy."

I tell Duane that I marched with Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama, so that blacks like him could I have the right to vote.

"That's so cool," says Pandora.

People look for water. Isn't there any water? "Not on a Rob Spallone shoot," somebody says. There's no toilet paper or baby wipes.

Ron crosses the street and buys supplies.

Lennox: "What's the toilet paper for?"

Duke: "Many people like to use it to wipe their ass after defecating."

Lennox: "I use baby wipes."

Luisa, from Germany, will start UCLA business school in September to get an MBA.

A couple of months ago, she had stomach surgery, keeping her out of action for three months. She was scheduled to do the scene where Lara Roxx caught HIV (according to AIM).

Luisa has done about 20 porn movies in America.

"I don't like French people," says Luisa, "and I don't like the French language. They're unfriendly to foreigners. I don't like French food."

I call Rob Spallone. "Don't write anything negative," he warns.

The Reason For Female Beauty

From bodyinmind.com:

Have you ever wondered what female beauty is for? A recent 'scientific' study from McMaster University declared that beauty makes men stupid.

Many nude gallery sites on the web seem to think it's meant to make us watch teenagers pee. Body in Mind is proud to disagree.

We believe there is a higher purpose behind the incredible power in female beauty, and we celebrate it as one of the great glories of mankind. After all, how could nature, who so carefully spends millenia matching the intricate patterns on even the smallest moth's wings to its surroundings, create human female beauty only for sex, and our minds for nothing? It could not.

That's why Body in Mind features only supernudes, nudes that are superior to most nudes because they move in the opposite direction, a positive direction, a direction that grows out of our conviction that men think, and are romantic, and that not much inspires them like female beauty can.

Beauty versus Nudity

Men want to see beautiful women naked, and they'll go to almost any length to get it.

I personally became an artist, philosopher, writer and photographer in order to see beautiful women naked. I now see several of the world's most beautiful women naked every day, and it's great!

This is the real power of female beauty - it inspires men to become everything they can be, and in turn, makes them happy. But there are other, not evil, but less honest men out there, men who want to see beautiful women naked but won't dare admit it to themselves, or others.

These men employ different tactics for getting beautiful women to disrobe. One of these tactics is the invention of the nudist resort. The idea goes something like this: first you tell everyone that nudity is natural and healthy and that everyone should try it. Then you tell women that nudity is the great equalizer, that it banishes artificial judgments, impossible standards, and economic inequities, and that love of mankind without pretense is your goal. Then you join the club, and wait for the babes to show up naked. Sometimes it even works. But generally, there are far more men than women at these clubs, and the women - though lovely in their own ways - are not really supermodels now are they?

This is where the plan to see beautiful women naked breaks down. It breaks down because it is based on a lie, and no matter how vehemently you deny it, it will not convince supermodels to join your club. It breaks down because nudity does not lead to beauty, but the other way around: beauty leads to nudity.

It is the desire to see beautiful women nude that leads to the creation of nudist resorts in the first place, as well as to nude photography, fine art, literature, beauty philosophy, the internet, movies, the constuction of skyscrapers, and missions into space.

Today, Leanne deals with this issue in an inspiring scenario that goes perfectly with our latest gallery of images by photomaster Chris Rügge. It in she gives us an idea for something wonderful! Read her latest scenario to find out what it is.

On The Set Of Bang My Tight White Ass

Trinity James

Lisa Lennox

Luisa